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The Cultural Reconstruction of Science: A Response to Labinger.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: The Cultural Reconstruction of Science: A Response to Labinger.
Authors: Hakken, David1 hakken@sunyit.edu
Source: Social Studies of Science (Sage Publications, Ltd.). May95, Vol. 25 Issue 2, p317-320. 4p.
Subject Terms: *Cultural studies, *Rhetoric, Science & society, Social change, Philosophy of science
People: Labinger, Jay
Abstract: In the article, the author comments on the article "Science As Culture: A View From the Petri Dish," by Jay A. Labinger, published in this issue of the journal "Social Studies of Science." The author supports Labinger's principled effort to open a discourse with scholars who do social and cultural studies of science. He believes that such a discourse is necessary if social and cultural studies of science (STS) is to survive the current backlash. STS is a kind of intensified form of normal science. Scientist Jay Labinger sees STS as a "scientific" enterprise, a metaphor albeit with a role reversal. STS demands that a person acts reflexively, recognizing the multiple ways in which "really existing technoscience" reproduces highly questionable cultural and philosophical premises. Reflexive technoscientists and STSers learn to construct and be constructed by the substantial limitations of "practical" activity. This article is an attempt to ground an STS problem in a "concrete" virtual artifact and to show the practical limitations of STS perspective, apparently failed to connect with the discourse community. Labinger's underlying message is that the STS network performs miserably on those few occasions when bridges are extended across the cultural divide.
Database: Education Research Complete
Description
Abstract:In the article, the author comments on the article "Science As Culture: A View From the Petri Dish," by Jay A. Labinger, published in this issue of the journal "Social Studies of Science." The author supports Labinger's principled effort to open a discourse with scholars who do social and cultural studies of science. He believes that such a discourse is necessary if social and cultural studies of science (STS) is to survive the current backlash. STS is a kind of intensified form of normal science. Scientist Jay Labinger sees STS as a "scientific" enterprise, a metaphor albeit with a role reversal. STS demands that a person acts reflexively, recognizing the multiple ways in which "really existing technoscience" reproduces highly questionable cultural and philosophical premises. Reflexive technoscientists and STSers learn to construct and be constructed by the substantial limitations of "practical" activity. This article is an attempt to ground an STS problem in a "concrete" virtual artifact and to show the practical limitations of STS perspective, apparently failed to connect with the discourse community. Labinger's underlying message is that the STS network performs miserably on those few occasions when bridges are extended across the cultural divide.
ISSN:03063127
DOI:10.1177/030631295025002008