Science under Siege

Contesting the Secular Religion of Scientism
1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-3-030-69648-1
Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 242 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 453 g

Reihe: Cultural Sociology

Identifying scientism as religion’s secular counterpart, this collection studies contemporary contestations of the authority of science. These controversies suggest that what we are witnessing today is not an increase in the authority of science at the cost of religion, but a dual decline in the authorities of religion and science alike. This entails an erosion of the legitimacy of universally binding truth claims, be they religiously or scientifically informed. Approaching the issue from a cultural-sociological perspective and building on theories from the sociology of religion, the volume unearths the cultural mechanisms that account for the headwind faced by contemporary science. The empirical contributions highlight how the field of academic science has lost much of its former authority vis-à-vis competing social realms; how political and religious worldviews define particular research findings as favorites while dismissing others; and how much of today’s distrust of science is directed against scientific institutions and academic scientists rather than against science per se.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Houtman, Dick

Laermans, Rudi

Aupers, Stef

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein Gesellschaftstheorie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Kultursoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Politische Soziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Religionssoziologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction: A Cultural Sociology of the Authority of Science.- 2. The Disenchantment of the World and the Authority of Sociology: How the Queen of the Sciences Lost Her Throne.- 3. Down the Rabbit Hole: Heterodox Science on the Internet.- 4. The Pluralization of Academia: Disentangling Artistic Research.- 5. Elective Affinities between Religion and Neuroscience: The Cases of Conservative Protestantism and Mindfulness Spirituality.- 6. Cultural Worldviews and Lay Interpretations of Research Findings: The Role of the Scientific Consensus.- 7. ‘Science without Scientists’: DIY Biology and the Renegotiation of the Life Sciences.- 8. Contesting Epistemic Authority: Conspiracy Theories on the Boundaries of Science.- 9. A Science Confidence Gap: Education, Trust in Scientific Methods, and Trust in Scientific Institutions in the United States, 2014.

Über Autor(innen)

Dick Houtman is Senior Professor of Sociology of Culture and Religion at the Center for Sociological Research at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and Faculty Fellow at the Center for Cultural Sociology, Yale University, USA.

Stef Aupers is Senior Professor of Media Culture at the Institute for Media Studies at the University of Leuven, Belgium.

Rudi Laermans is Senior Professor of Social Theory at the Center for Sociological Research at the University of Leuven, Belgium.