SOCI 325 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Tacit Knowledge, Conversation Analysis, Ethnography
Document Summary
In the 1970s and 1980s, sts scholars began conducting ethnographies in scientific labs. If scientific knowledge has a social component, scholars should focus on the process of knowledge creation. Study the formulation of facts in a lab just as you would study any social processes - field work, ethnography, conversation analysis, interviews. A big part of scientific knowledge cannot be written down, but is embodied in skills, "tinkering", and tacit knowledge. Experiments do not work; the numbers have to be cooked, the reaction doesn"t react, the phage does not grow. Scientific observations, findings, and facts are not apparently, but must be actively constructed. Scientists must engage in translation of facts and data for different purposes. Replication in science involves transmitting knowledge about a phenomena of interest. Algorithmical model: a finite series of unambiguous instructions which can be formulated and transferred. Enculturational model: reproduction relies on shared assumptions, skills and baseline knowledge eproduction assumptions, skills and baseline knowledge.
