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Investigating a theme first pioneered by Barry Barnes in the early 1970s, this volume explores the relationship between social order and legitimate knowledge and is intended as a tribute to Barnes' seminal role in the development of the discipline of science and technology studies (STS). The contributors highlight the way in which Barnes' work has shaped their way of conceptualizing the basic relation between knowledge and society. In doing this they explore the original sociological underpinnings of STS while pointing to the way in which Barnes' interdisciplinary work has been developed to tackle current concerns in the field as well as in social theory. They also address the concerns of social scientists who are investigating the nature of power and agency and the problem of social order, emphasizing the essential role played by scientific knowledge and technological machinery in the construction of social life. Contributors to the volume include Martin Kusch, Steven Loyal, Mark Haugaard, David Bloor, Trevor Pinch, John Dupre, Donald MacKenzie, Harry Collins, Steven Shapin and Karin Knorr Cetina.
The Grateful Dead is one of the most popular bands of all time and they have enjoyed incredible relevance to this day. But let's admit it, they were not exactly poster boys for corporate America. In Everything I Know About Business I Learned From the Grateful Dead, Deadhead and business scholar Barry Barnes proves that the Dead's influence on the business world will turn out to be a significant part of their legacy. Without intending to, the band pioneered ideas and practices that were subsequently embraced by American corporations. And in this book Barnes shares the ten most innovative business lessons from the Dead's illustrious career, including: Creating and delivering superior customer ...
Intriguingly different in approach from conventional works in the same area of inquiry, this study deals with the central problems and concerns of the sociology of knowledge as it has traditionally been conceived of. In other words, it is concerned with the relationship of knowledge, social interests and social structure, and with the various attempts which have been made to analyse the relationship. Barry Barnes takes the classic writings in the sociology of knowledge – by Marx, Lukács, Weber, Mannheim, Goldmann, Habermas and others – and uses them as resources in coming to grips with what he regards as the currently most interesting and significant questions in this area. This approac...
Over the past quarter century, social theory has moved in diverse and often seemingly incompatible directions, exaggerating differences of approach that existed even in earlier periods. In a strikingly original book, Barry Barnes uses this intellectual diversity not only to identify but also to unify the central ways of looking at the field. Barnes frames his task by addressing the most important problem confronting all students of society today: the apparent conflict between cultural and functional methods of describing the social order, on one hand, and choice-theoretic accounts, on the other. But rather than reviewing in detail the origins and development of these contending views of real...
Originally published in 1974.
Since the 1950s, many philosophers of science have attacked positivism—the theory that scientific knowledge is grounded in objective reality. Reconstructing the history of these critiques, John H. Zammito argues that while so-called postpositivist theories of science are very often invoked, they actually provide little support for fashionable postmodern approaches to science studies. Zammito shows how problems that Quine and Kuhn saw in the philosophy of the natural sciences inspired a turn to the philosophy of language for resolution. This linguistic turn led to claims that science needs to be situated in both historical and social contexts, but the claims of recent "science studies" only deepened the philosophical quandary. In essence, Zammito argues that none of the problems with positivism provides the slightest justification for denigrating empirical inquiry and scientific practice, delivering quite a blow to the "discipline" postmodern science studies. Filling a gap in scholarship to date, A Nice Derangement of Epistemes will appeal to historians, philosophers, philosophers of science, and the broader scientific community.
Deception, Preparation, Rapture. Get ready, so you will not be deceived.
`Barne′s work is remarkable in its attempt to transcend previously held dualisms like causal versus voluntaristic explanations, and to advance a model of social action that can contribute to a possible resolution of the problematic relation between ′structure′ and ′agency′′ - Debasis Giri, Contributions to Indian Sociology In this penetrating and assured book, one of the leading commentators in the field argues that social theory is moving in the wrong direction in its reflections on human freedom and autonomy. It has borrowed notions of ′agency′ and ′choice′ from everyday discourse, but increasingly it puts a misconceived individualistic gloss upon them. Against this, Ba...
A systematic account of the importance of sociology for the understanding of scientific knowledge. Applying sociological analysis to specific historical case studies, the work attempts to show how the sociological approach is an essential complement to interpretations of scientific knowledge from other disciplines, and a necessary contribution to obtaining a scientific understanding of science. This book should be of interest to students in the social sciences and the history and philosophy of science, and to academics interested in knowledge, epistemology, the history of ideas and the "new" sociology of science.>
With The Constitution of Power, Mark Haugaard provides an introduction to the analysis of social and political power, and discusses the relationship between power, structure and knowledge.