000			03981pam a2200337 a 4500
001			ocm23386510
003			OCoLC
005			20110428214352.0
008			910313s1992 nyua b s001 0 eng
010			_a 91003095
020			_a0791409236 (alk. paper) : _c$54.50
020			_a0791409244 (pbk. : alk. paper) : _c$18.95
035			_a(Sirsi) locm23386510
050	0	0	_aBD175 _b.F834 1992
082	0	0	_a306.4/5 _220
049			_aKKQA
090			_a306.4/5 _mKKQA
040			_aDLC _cDLC _dOrLoB
100	1		_aFuchs, Stephan, _d1956-
245	1	4	_aThe professional quest for truth : _ba social theory of science and knowledge / _cStephan Fuchs.
260			_aAlbany : _bState University of New York Press, _cc1992.
300			_axviii, 254 p. : _bill. ; _c24 cm.
440		0	_aSUNY series in science, technology, and society
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 231-245) and indexes.
505	0	0	_tPreface / _rRandall Collins -- _gCh. 1. _tToward a Theory of Scientific Organizations -- _gCh. 2. _tThe New Sociology of Science: Philosophical and Sociological Backgrounds. _tEpistemological Critique. _tThe Issues of Relativism and Reflexivity. _tThe Strong Program: Entering the Black Box of Scientific Rationality -- _gCh. 3. _tMicrosocial Studies of Science: The Empirical Evidence. _tFacts. _tControversies and Closures. _tTextuality. _tTextual Agents. _tNontextual Agents. _tLaboratories. _tProperty -- _gCh. 4. _tHow Social are Social Studies of Science? _tThe Idiosyncratic Nature of Scientific Production. _tThe Social Dynamics of Fact Production. _tMundane and Scientific Knowledge. _tControversies as Normal Accidents -- _gCh. 5. _tThe Technological Paradigm in Organizational Theory. _tWoodward's Structural Types of Technology and Organization. _tPerrow's Early Comparative Framework for Organization Analysis. _tThompson's Technological Interdependence Types. _tPerrow's Later Comparative Framework for Organization Analysis. _tLawrence and Lorsch's Environmental Model of Organizational Structure. _tControl Theory. _tCurrent Debates in Organizational Theory -- _gCh. 6. _tSome Comparative Observations on Science and the Professions. _tTask Uncertainty and Stratification. _tMutual Dependence and Professional Workstyles. _tScience and Art: An Organizational Comparison. _tOrganizational Control in Modern Literature. _tThe Postmodern Equation of Science and Literature -- _gCh. 7. _tA Theory of Scientific Production. _tResource Concentration. _tReputational Autonomy. _tMutual Dependence, Heterogeneity, and Coordination Problems. _tSize, Competition, and Change. _tCumulation. _tSpecialization. _tFragmentation. _tMigration. _tTask Uncertainty. _tBureaucratization of Control -- _gCh. 8. _tHermeneutics as Deprofessionalization. _tThe Interpretive Paradigm in Sociology. _tThe Paradox of Interpretive Methodology. _tHermeneutics as Organizational Structure. _tSubject Index / _rJohn Herrman.
520			_aThis book argues that the power of science as the most respected and authoritative world view is based on its superior material and organizational resources, not on its superior rationality. Fuchs approaches science as a social construct, and utilizing a theory of scientific organizations, he analyzes knowledge production in scientific fields - how they differ in their resources and how these differences affect how science is conducted. The book explains why certain fields produce science and facts, while others engage in hermeneutics and conversation; why certain specialities change through cumulation rather than fragmentation; and why some fields are relativistic while others are positivist in their self-understanding. This general theory of knowledge is applicable not only to science, but to all varieties of professional groups engaged in knowledge production.
650		0	_aKnowledge, Sociology of.
650		0	_aScience _xSocial aspects.
971			_aStephan Fuchs is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
596			_a1
999			_c25030 _d25030