Chapter 88: The Sociology of Science and Technology

TREVOR PINCH

The sociology of science and technology The sociology of science and the sociology of technology are small but growing topics within the wider field of sociology but are key parts of the emerging interdisciplinary field of science and technology studies (Biagioli 1999; Jasanoff et al. 1995). In this review I first focus on the sociology of science and then briefly examine the sociology of technology. The sociology of science (Collins 1983; Lynch 1993; Mulkay 1980; Shapin 1995; Zuckerman 1988) was founded by Robert K. Merton—an achievement recognized by his award of the National Medal of Science in 1994. Merton argued in his doctoral dissertation, published as the monograph Science, Technology and Society in Seventeenth Century England (Merton [1938] 1970), that the rise of modern science could be explained in terms of religion and a number of other factors associated with England's growing mercantile economy, such as the military and Merton ...

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