Mellor / Webster The Silences of Science

Gaps and Pauses in the Communication of Science
Erscheinungsjahr 2016
ISBN: 978-1-317-05502-0
Verlag: CRC Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 318 Seiten

Over the last half century scholars from a range of disciplines have attempted to theorise silence. Naively we tend to think of silence negatively, as a lack, an emptiness. Yet silence studies shows that silence is more than mere absence. All speech incorporates silence, not only in the gaps between words or the pauses that facilitate turn taking, but in the omissions that result from the necessary selectivity of communicative acts. Thus silence is significant in and of itself; that it is a sign that has socially-constructed (albeit context -dependent and ambiguous) meanings.

To date, studies of science communication have focussed on what is said rather than what is not said. They have highlighted the content of communication rather than its form, and have largely ignored the gaps, pauses and lacunae that are an essential, and meaningful, part of any communicative act. Both the sociology of science and the history of science have also failed to highlight the varied functions of silence in the practice of science, despite interests in tacit knowledge and cultures of secrecy. Through a range of case studies from historical and contemporary situations, this volume draws attention to the significance of silence, its different qualities and uses, and the nature, function and meaning of silence for science and technology studies.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mellor, Felicity

Webster, Stephen

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: The Communicative Functions of Silence in Science

Part 1: Choosing Silence

1. 'He Didn't Go Round the Conference Circuit Talking About It': Oral Histories of Joseph Farman and the Ozone Hole (Paul Merchant)

2. Dawin's Silence: An Anatomy of Quietude (Stephen Webster)

3. 'Tired with this Subject.': Issac Newton on Publishing and the Ideal Natural Philosopher (Cornelis J. Schilt)

4. Engineers at the Patient's Bedside: The Case of Silence in Inter-institutional Educational Innovation (Nick Verouden, Maarten C.A. van der Sanden and Noelle M.N.C. Aarts)

Part 2: Cultures of Silence

5. Talking About Secrets: The Hanford Nuclear Facility and News Reporting of Silence, 1945-1989 (Danielle Macuglia)

6. Silence and Selection: The 'Trick' Cyclist at the War Office Selection Boards (Alice White)

7. The Silenced Subject: Oral History and the Experience of Cancer Research (Catriona Gilmour Hamilton)

8. Reconstructing Ancient Thought- The Case of Ancient Egyptian Mathematics (Elizabeth Hind)

9. The (non)-conveying of the Experiential in Scientific Accounts of Buddhist Meditation (Brian Rappert, Catelijne Coopmans and Giovanna Colombetti)

Part 3: Silences in the Public Sphere

10. The Silent Introduction of Synthetic Dyestuffs into Nineteenth Century Food (Carolyn Cobbold)

11. Having It All: Ownership in Open Science (Ann Grand)

12. Shocking Silences: The Management and Distribution of Silences Around TASER™ (Abi Dymond)

13. 'An Outcry of Silences': Charles Hoy Fort and the Uncanny Voices of Science (Charlotte Sleigh)

Über Autor(innen)

Felicity Mellor is Senior Lecturer in Science Communication at Imperial College London, UK. Her research examines the representation of science in the media and the ideological dimensions of scientists’ public discourse. She was editor, along with Alice Bell and Sarah Davies, of Science and its Publics (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009).

Stephen Webster is Director of the Science Communication Unit at Imperial College London, UK. His books include Charles Darwin (Stroud: The History Press, 2015) and Thinking about Biology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).