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Flashcards in Sociology-beliefs-ideology and science Deck (77)
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1
Q

What has been the impact of science?

A

Science has had an enormous impact on society over the last few centuries. Its achievements in medicine have eradicated many once fatal diseases. Many basic features of daily life-transport, communications, work and leisure-would be unrecognisable to our recent ancestors due to scientific and technological development. Most strikingly, science and technology have revolutionised economic productivity and raised our standard of living to previously undreamt height. This success has led to a widespread ‘faith in science’-a belief that it can ‘deliver the goods’

2
Q

More recently, what are the views on science?

A

This ‘faith in science’ has been somewhat dimmed by a recognition that science may cause problems as well as solve them. Pollution, global warming and weapons of mass destruction are as much a product of science and technology as are space flight, ‘wonder drugs’ and the internet. While science may have helped to protect us from natural dangers such as disease and famine, it has created its own ‘manufactured risks’ that increasingly threaten the planet

3
Q

What distinguishes science from other belief systems?

A

Both the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ effects of science demonstrate the key feature distinguishing it from other belief systems or knowledge claims-that is, its cognitive power. In other words, science enables us to explain, predict and control the world in a way that non-scientific or pre-scientific belief systems cannot do

4
Q

Why does Karl Popper say science has been successful in explaining and controlling the world?

A

Because science is an ‘open belief system’ where every scientist’s theories are open to scrutiny, criticism and testing by others. Science is governed by the principle of falsificationism. That is, scientists set out to try and falsify existing theories deliberately seeking evidence that would disprove them. If the evidence form an experiment or observation contradicts a theory and shows it to be false, the theory can be discarded and the search for a better explanation can begin. In science, knowledge claims live or die by the evidence

5
Q

In Popper’s view how does scientific understanding of the world grow?

A

Discarding falsified knowledge claims is what enables scientific understanding of the world to grow. Scientific knowledge is cumulative-it builds on the achievements of previous scientists to develop a greater and greater understanding of the world around us

6
Q

What did Sir Isaac Newton say about scientific understanding?

A

‘If I have been able to see so far, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants’-that is, on the discoveries of his predecessors

7
Q

Why are no scientific theories ever taken as definitely true?

A

Despite the achievements of great scientists, such as Newton, no theory is ever to be taken as definitely true-there is always a possibility that someone will produce evidence to disprove it. Eg for centuries it was held to be true that the sun revolved around the earth, until Copernicus demonstrated that this knowledge claim was false. In Popper’s view, the key thing about scientific knowledge is that it is not sacred or absolute truth-it can always be questioned, criticised, tested and perhaps shown to be false

8
Q

What does Merton argue about science?

A

He argues that science can only thrive as a major social institution if it receives the support from other institutions and values-he argues this first occurred in England as a result of the values and attitudes created by the Protestant Reformation, especially Puritanism. The Puritans’ beliefs encouraged them to experiment and were attracted to the fact that science could produce technological inventions to improve the conditions of life. This new institution of science also received support from economic and military institutions

9
Q

What is the CUDOS norm?

A

Merton argues, like Popper, that science as an institution or organised social activity needs an ‘ethos’ or set of norms that make scientists act in ways that serve the goal of increasing scientific knowledge. The four norms are communism, universalism, disinterestedness, and organised scepticism (CUDOS)

10
Q

What is communism (CUDOS)?

A

Scientific knowledge is not private property. Scientists must share it with the scientific community (by publishing their findings); otherwise, knowledge cannot grow

11
Q

What is universalism (CUDOS)?

A

The truth or falsity of scientific knowledge is judged by universal, objective criteria (such as testing), and not by the particular race, sex etc of the scientist who produces it

12
Q

What is disinterestedness (CUDOS)?

A

This means being committed to discovering knowledge for its own sake. Having to publish their findings makes it harder for scientists to practice fraud, since it enables others to check their claims

13
Q

What is organised scepticism (CUDOS)?

A

No knowledge claim is regarded as ‘sacred’. Every idea is open to questioning, criticism and objective investigation

14
Q

How does religion differ from science?

A

While scientific knowledge is provisional, open to challenge and potentially disprovable, religion claims to have special, perfect knowledge of the absolute truth. Its knowledge is literally sacred and religious organisations claim to hold it on God’s divine authority. This means it cannot be challenged and those who do may be punished for their heresy. It also means religious knowledge does not change, unlike scientific knowledge, therefore it does not grow

15
Q

How does Horton explain the difference between science and religion?

A

He distinguishes between open and closed belief systems. Like Popper, he sees science as an open belief system-where knowledge claims are open to criticism and can be disproved by testing. By contrast, religion, magic and many other belief systems are closed. They make knowledge claims that cannot successfully be overturned, When fundamental beliefs are threatened, they use ‘get out clauses’ that reinforce the system and prevent it being disproved

16
Q

What was Evans-Pritchard’s study?

A

His classic anthropological study of the Azande people of the Sudan illustrates Horton’s idea of a self-reinforcing, closed belief system

17
Q

What do the Azande believe?

A

Like Westerners, the Azande believe that natural events have natural causes. However, unlike most Westerners, the Azande do not believe in coincidence or chance, so when misfortune befalls the Azande, they may explain it in terms of witchcraft. Someone-probably a jealous neighbour-is practicing witch craft

18
Q

How do the Azande find out the truth about whether someone is practicing witchcraft?

A

The injured party may make an accusation against the suspected witch and the matter may be resolved by consulting the prince’s magic poison oracle. Here, the prince’s diviner will administer a potion (benge) to a chicken, at the same time asking the benge whether the accused is the source of the witchcraft and telling it to kill the chicken if the answer is ‘yes’. If the chicken dies, the sufferer can go and publicly demand the witchcraft to stop

19
Q

Why does the poison oracle usually end the problem with witchcraft?

A

Because the Azande regard witchcraft as a psychic power coming from a substance located in the witch’s intestines, and it is believed possible that the witch is doing harm unintentionally and unconsciously. This allows the accused to proclaim their surprise and horror, to apologise and promise that there will be no further bewitching

20
Q

What does Evans-Pritchard argue about the Azande’s beliefs on witchcraft?

A

Argues this belief system performs useful social functions. It not only clears the air and prevents grudges, but it encourages neighbours to behave considerately towards one another to reduce the risk of an accusation. Also since the Azande believe witchcraft to be hereditary, children have a vested interest in keeping their parents in line, since a successful accusation against the parent also damages the child’s reputation. As such, the belief system is an important social control mechanism ensuring conformity and cooperation

21
Q

What type of belief system does Evan’s Pritchard argue the Azande’s beliefs are?

A

Closed system. It is highly resistant to challenges and cannot be overturned by evidence. Eg, non-believers may argue if benge killed the chicken without the diviner first addressing the potion, this would be a decisive test showing the oracle did not work. However, for the Azande, such outcome would prove it was not good benge. ‘The very fact of the fowl dying proves to them its badness’ so the rest doesn’t disprove the belief system in their eyes-it reinforces it. They are trapped in their own ‘idiom of belief’ ow way of thinking. Because they accept the system’s basic assumptions, they cannot challenge it

22
Q

What does Polanyi argue?

A

Argues that all belief systems have three devices to sustain themselves in the face of apparently contradictory evidence: circularity, subsidiary explanations and denial of legitimacy to rivals

23
Q

How does circularity act as a device to sustain a belief system?

A

Each idea in the system is explained in terms of another idea within the system and so on, round and round

24
Q

How do subsidiary explanations act as a device to sustain a belief system?

A

For example, if the oracle fails, it may be explained away as due to incorrect use of the benge

25
Q

How does denial of legitimacy to rivals act as a device to sustain a belief system?

A

Belief systems reject alternative world-views by refusing to grant any legitimacy to their basic assumptions, for example, creationism rejects outright the evolutionists’ knowledge-claim that the earth is billions of years old, and therefore that species have gradually evolved rather than all having been created

26
Q

Despite Popper’s view of science as open and critical, what do other writers argue?

A

That science itself can be seen as a self-sustaining or closed system of belief, eg Polanyi argues that all belief systems reject fundamental challenges to their knowledge claims - science is no different, as the case of Dr Velikovsky indicates

27
Q

What is one explanation for scientists’ refusal even to consider such challenges?

A

The explanation comes from a historian of science, Kuhn, who argues that a mature science such as geology, biology or physics is based on a set of shared assumptions that he calls a paradigm

28
Q

What are paradigms?

A

They tell scientists what reality is like, what problems to study and what methods and equipment to use, what will count as evidence, and even what answers they should find when they conduct research. For most of the time, scientists are engaged in normal science, which Kuhn likens to puzzle solving - the paradigm lays down the broad outlines and the scientists’ job is to carefully fill in the details. Those who do so successfully are rewarded with bigger research grants, professorships, Nobel Prizes and so on

29
Q

How important are paradigms to science?

A

Scientific education and training is a process of being socialised into faith in the truth of the paradigm, and a successful career depends on working within the paradigm. For these reasons, any scientist who challenges the fundamental assumptions of the paradigm, as Velikovsky did, is likely to be ridiculed and hounded out of the profession-others in the scientific community will no longer regard them as a scientist at all

30
Q

How does science ever develop if you cannot challenge the fundamental assumptions of a paradigm?

A

The only exceptions to this are during rare periods that Kuhn describes as a scientific revolution, when faith in the truth of the paradigm has already been undermined by an accumulation of anomalies-results that the paradigm cannot account for. Only then do scientists become open to radically new ideas

31
Q

How have Interpretivist sociologists developed Kuhn’s ideas further?

A

They argue that all knowledge-including scientific knowledge-is socially constructed. That is, rather than being objective truth, it is created by social groups using the resources available to them. In the case of science, scientific ‘facts’-those things that scientists take to be true and real-are the product of shared theories or paradigms that tell them what they should expect to see, and of the particular instruments they use

32
Q

What does Knorr-Cetina argue?

A

That the invention of new instruments, such as telescopes or microscopes, permits scientists to make new observations and construct or ‘fabricate’ new facts. Similarly, she points out that what scientists study in the laboratory is highly ‘constructed’ and far removed from the natural world that they are supposedly studying. For example, water is specially purified, animals specially bred and so on

33
Q

What does the ethnomethodologist Woolgar argue?

A

Scientists are engaged in the same process of ‘making sense’ or interpreting the world as everyone else. When confronted by ‘evidence’ from their observations and experiments, they have to decide what it means. They do so by devising and applying theories or explanations, but they then have to persuade others to accept their interpretation

34
Q

What is an example of what Woolgar talks about?

A

In the case of discovery of ‘pulsars’ (pulsating neutron stars) by researchers at the Cambridge astronomy laboratory in 1967, the scientists initially annotated the patterns on their printouts from the radio telescope as ‘LGM1’. and ‘LGM2’ and so on-standing for ‘Little Green Men’. Recognising that this was an unacceptable interpretation from the viewpoint of the scientific community (would have ended their careers if they published it), they eventually settled on notion that patterns represented signals from a type of star hithero unknown to science. However more than a decade later, there was disagreement among astronomers as to what the signals really meant

35
Q

How does the example of ‘little green men’ demonstrate Woolgar’s point?

A

As Woolgar notes, a scientific fact is simply a social construction or belief that scientists are able to persuade their colleagues to share-not necessarily a real thing ‘out there’

36
Q

How do conflict perspectives view science?

A

Critical perspectives such as Marxism and feminism see scientific knowledge as far from pure truth. Instead, they regard it as serving the interests of dominant groups-either the ruling class, or men. Thus, many advances in supposedly ‘pure’ science have been driven by the need of capitalism for certain types of knowledge, eg theoretical work on ballistics was driven by need to develop new weaponry, and biological ideas have been used to justify both male domination and colonial expansion. In this respect, science can be seen as a new form of ideology

37
Q

How do postmodernists view science?

A

They also reject the knowledge claims of science to have ‘the truth’. Also, like Marxists, some postmodernists argue that science has become technoscience, simply serving capitalist interests by producing commodities for profit

38
Q

What are Lyotard’s views on science (postmodernism)?

A

Science is one of a number of meta-narratives or ‘big stories’ that falsely claim to possess the truth. Other meta-narratives include religion, Marxism and psychoanalysis. In his view, science falsely claims to find the truth about how the world works as a means of progress to a better society, whereas in reality, science is just one more ‘disclosure’ or way of thinking that is used to dominate people

39
Q

What is a basic definition of ideology?

A

It is a worldview or a set of ideas and values-a belief system

40
Q

What is a problem with the use of the term ‘ideology’ in sociology?

A

The term is very widely used in sociology and has taken on a number of related meanings, including negative aspects, such as:
Distorted, false or mistaken ideas about the world, or a partial, one-sided or biased view of reality. Ideas that conceal the interests of a particular group, or that legitimate (justify) their privileges. Ideas that prevent change by misleading people about the reality of the situation they are in or about their own true interests or position. A self-sustaining belief system that is irrational and closed to criticism

41
Q

Based on the wide use of the term ‘ideology’, what may people be referring to?

A

Very often when someone uses the term ideology to describe a belief system, it means they regard it as factually and/or morally wrong

42
Q

How do Marxists see society?

A
Marxism sees society as divided into two opposed classes: 
A minority capitalist ruling class who own the means of production and control the state-bourgeoisie. A majority working class who are propertyless and therefore forced to sell their labour to the capitalists. The capitalist class take advantage of this, exploiting the workers’ labour to produce profit-proletariat. It is therefore in the workers’ interests to overthrow capitalism by means of a socialist revolution and replace it with a classless communist society in which the means of production are collectively, not privately, owned and used to benefit society as a whole
43
Q

What is needed for the marxist revolution to occur?

A

The working class must first become conscious of their true position as exploited ‘wage slaves’. They must develop class consciousness

44
Q

What prevents the marxist revolution?

A

The ruling class control not only the means of material production, they also control the means of production of ideas, through institutions such as education, the mass media and religion. These produce ruling-class ideology-ideas that legitimate or justify the status quo (the existing social set up)

45
Q

What is a ruling class ideology?

A

It includes ideas and beliefs such as:
That equality will never work because it goes against ‘human nature’. Victim blaming ideas about poverty, such as what Bowles and Gintis call ‘the poor are dumb’ theory of meritocracy: everyone has an equal chance in life, so the poor must be poor because they are stupid or lazy. Racist ideas about the inferiority of ethnic minorities, which divide black and white workers make them easier to rule

46
Q

What do the dominant ideas in society reflect?

A

The dominant ideas are the ideas of the ruling class and they function to prevent change by creating a false consciousness among the workers

47
Q

How did Marx respond to the arguments against a marxist revolution?

A

However, despite these ideological barriers, Marx believes that ultimately the working class will develop a true class consciousness and unite to overthrow capitalism

48
Q

What does Gramsci talk about?

A

Hegemony and revolution. He refers to the ruling class’ ideological domination of society as hegemony. He argues that the working class can develop ideas that challenge ruling class hegemony. This is because in capitalist society, workers have a dual consciousness-a mixture of ruling class ideology and ideas they develop from their own direct experience of exploitation and their struggles against it. It is therefore possible for the working class to develop class consciousness and overthrow capitalism

49
Q

In Gramsci’s view, what else is required for the overthrow of capitalism?

A

A political party of ‘organic intellectuals’-that is, workers who through their anti-capitalist struggles have developed a class consciousness

50
Q

What do critics argue about Gramsci’s idea of hegemony and revolution?

A

However, some critics argue that it is not the existence of a dominant ideology that keeps the workers in line and prevents attempts to overthrow capitalism. For example, Abercrombie et al argue that it is economic factors such as the fear of unemployment that keep workers from rebelling

51
Q

What is nationalism?

A

Nationalism is an important political ideology that has had a major impact on the world over the last 200 years

52
Q

What does nationalism claim?

A

Nations are real, distinctive communities each with its own unique characteristics and a long, shared history. Every nation should be self-governing. National loyalty and identity should come before all others, such as tribe, class or religion

53
Q

However, what does Anderson argue?

A

Anderson argues that a nation is only an ‘imagined community’, not a real one. Although we identify with it, we will never know most of its other members. This imagined community can bind millions of strangers together and create a sense of common purpose

54
Q

How does Marx link with nationalism?

A

Marx was an internationalist. His Communist Manifesto ends with the words, “Workers of all countries, unit. You have nothing to lose but your chains. You have a world to win.”

55
Q

What is nationalism in the marxist view?

A

Nationalism is a form of false class consciousness that helps prevent the overthrow of capitalism by dividing the international working class. This is because nationalism encourages workers to believe they have more in common with the capitalists of their own country than with workers of other countries. This has enabled the ruling class of each capitalist country to persuade the working class to fight wards on their behalf

56
Q

How do functionalists see nationalism?

A

Functionalists see nationalism as a secular civil religion. Like religion, it integrates individuals into larger social and political units by making them feel part of something greater than themselves

57
Q

Why do functionalists say nationalism is important in modern secular societies?

A

In modern secular societies, people may be unwilling to believe in supernatural beings but may be willing to see themselves as part of a nation. Modern societies also often contain many different faiths, so religion is likely to be a source of division

58
Q

By contrast, how does nationalism function as a civil religion?

A

It functions as a civil religion that unites everyone into a single national community, regardless of differences such as religion or class. For functionalists, education plays an important part in creating social solidarity, and this may include collective rituals involving nationalist symbols such as the flag and national anthem, as well as learning the nation’s history-which may be more myth than fact

59
Q

How does Gellner see nationalism?

A

Gellner also sees nationalism as false consciousness: its claim that nations have existed since time immemorial is untrue. On the contrary, in Gellner’s view, nationalism is a very modern phenomenon

60
Q

What was nationalism like in pre-industrial societies?

A

Pre-industrial societies were held together not by nationalism, but by face-to-face relationships in small-scale communities with a fixed hierarchy of ascribed statuses

61
Q

How is modern society very different from pre-industrial society?

A

Industrialisation creates large-scale, impersonal societies with a complex division of labour, administered by vast bureaucracies, and where all citizens are of relatively equal status (eg all are equal before the law). Modern states therefore need some means of enabling communication between strangers to take place, especially in the economy

62
Q

What makes nationalism possible?

A

Modern society, by using a mass state education system to impose a single, standard, national culture and language on every member of society. Similarly, nationalism regards all citizens as equal and this makes economic and social cooperation between them easier

63
Q

What does Gellner also note about the use of nationalism as an ideology?

A

Gellner also notes that elites use nationalism as an ideology to motivate the population to endure the hardships and suffering that accompany the first phase of industrialisation, thereby enabling a state to modernise

64
Q

Who talks about ideology and utopia?

A

Mannheim

65
Q

When was most of Mannheim’s work done?

A

Most of Mannheim’s work on ideology was done between the two World Wars-a time of intense political and social conflict-and this undoubtedly influenced his views

66
Q

What are Mannheim’s views?

A

Mannheim sees all belief systems as a partial or one-sided worldview. Their one sidedness results from being the viewpoint of one particular group or class and its interests. This led to him distinguish between two broad types of belief system of worldview

67
Q

What two broad types of belief system of worldview does Mannheim distinguish between?

A

Ideological thought and utopian thought

68
Q

What is ideological thought?

A

It justifies keeping things as they are. It reflects the position and interests of privileged groups such as the capitalist class. These groups benefit from maintaining their status quo, so their belief system tends to be conservative and favours hierarchy

69
Q

What is utopian thought?

A

It justifies social change. It reflects the position and interests of the underprivileged and offers a vision of how society could be organised differently. For example, the working class are disadvantaged by the status quo and may favour radical change to a classless society. Mannheim sees Marxism as an example of utopian thought

70
Q

How does Mannheim see these two world-views?

A

As creations of groups of intellectuals who attach themselves to particular classes. Eg, the role of Gramsci’s organic intellectuals is to create a working class or socialist worldview

71
Q

Why do Mannheim’s two world views only produce partial views of reality?

A

Because these intellectuals represent the interests of particular groups, and not society as a whole, they only produce partial views of reality. The belief system of each class or group only gives us a partial truth about the world. For Mannheim this is a source of conflict in society. Different intellectuals, linked to different groups and classes, produce opposed and antagonistic ideas that justify the interests and claims of their groups as against the others

72
Q

In Mannheim’s view, what is the solution to the conflict caused by the two world views?

A

The solution is therefore to ‘detach’ the intellectuals from the social groups they represent and create a non-aligned free-floating intelligentsia standing above the conflict. Freed from representing the interests of this or that group, they would be able to synthesise elements of the different partial ideologies and utopias so as to arrive at a ‘total’ worldview that represented the interests of society as a whole

73
Q

What is a problem with Mannheim’s solution of ‘free-floating intelligentsia’?

A

Many of the elements of different political ideologies are diametrically opposed to one another and it is hard to imagine how these could by synthesised. Eg, how could Marxist ideas about the need to create a classless society be synthesised with the conservative idea that hierarchy is essential and beneficial?

74
Q

What are feminists basic views of society?

A

Feminists see gender inequality as the fundamental division in society and patriarchal ideology as playing a key role in legitimating it

75
Q

How do feminists view ideologies?

A

Because gender difference is a feature of all societies, there exist many different ideologies to justify it. Eg Marks describes how ideas from science have been used to justify excluding women from education. She quotes 19th century doctors, scientists and educationalists expressing the view that educating females would lead to the creation of ‘a new race of weak and unfeminine’ females and ‘disqualify women from their true vocation’, namely the nurturing of the next generation

76
Q

What other ideologies to feminists talk about, apart from science?

A

In addition to patriarch ideologies in science, those embodied in religious beliefs and practices have also been used to define women as inferior. There are numerous examples from a wide range of religions of the idea that women are ritually impure or unclean, particularly because of childbirth or menstruation. This has given rise to purification rituals such as ‘churching’ after a woman has given birth. In some Christian churches, a new mother may not receive communion until after she has been churched

77
Q

What evidence goes against feminist views of ideology?

A

However, not all elements of religious belief systems subordinate women.Eg there is evidence that, before the emergence of monotheistic patriarchal religions, matriarchal religions with female deities were widespread, with female priests and the celebration of fertility cults. Similarly, in Hinduism, goddesses have often been portrayed as creators of the universe

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