STSC 288 Knowledge and Social Structure
Offered:Fall 2008
H. Kuklick TR 3-4:30
Fulfills college requirement for Sector IV: Humanities and Social Science (Class of 2010 and after)
This course focuses on science in various institutional contexts and discusses situations ranging widely over time and place. We consider examples drawn from the seventeenth century to the present, the social settings in which science is found (e.g., the prince’s court, the society of amateurs, the university, the academic laboratory, industry, and in the field, outdoors), and the effects of changes in publishing and patronage. For comparative purposes, we also consider such phenomena as the symphony orchestra, the art market, motion pictures, and literature. Assigned authors range from time-honored authorities, such as Robert Merton, to science writers for The New Yorker.
