What do you understand by sociology of science? Explain different approaches to the study of sociology of science.

 The sociology of science is defined as the part of sociology that studies relationships between different idea systems and a variety of institutional and personality factors. It is a relatively new field in the sphere of sciences, which has traditionally been dominated by the philosophy of science and the history of science. It deals with the social relativism of scientific research and its knowledge products. It informs that scientific research is a process, which involves social interests and the major social forces that prevail upon the working of a scientist.

Sociologists of scientific knowledge study the development of a scientific field and attempt to identify points of contingency or interpretative flexibility where ambiguities are present. Such variations may be linked to a variety of political, historical, cultural or economic factors. Crucially, the field does not set out to promote relativism or to attack the scientific project; the aim of the researcher is to explain why one interpretation rather than another succeeds due to external social and historical circumstances.

Approaches to the Sociology of Science

1. The first approach is known as "sociology of knowledge" approach. It studies the relation between thought and society. It depicts the social or existential conditions of knowledge. This approach has been primarily concerned with the way in which ideas are influenced by the position of intellectuals in the social structure of the society. This approach has provided an orientation for the sociology of science, but its theoretical insights have not (with the exception of Weber's work) been able to exert a strong influence.

2. The second approach is known as "normative approach". It is related with the study of science as a social system. Science is regarded not as a body of knowledge or as a set of methods and techniques but as "the organized social activity of men and women who are concerned with extending man's body of empirical knowledge through the application of these techniques. The relationships among these people, guided by a set of shared norms, constitute the social characteristics of science"(Storer, 1966). It is also concerned with investigating the inter-relationships between science and other social institutions.

3.The third approach in sociology of science is concerned with the identification of the characteristics of scientific knowledge that bring about change and development in scientific ideas, rather than identifying external influences upon this process. This approach is identified with a few historians of science whose work had considerable influence upon the sociological thinking about science (Holton, 1962; Kuhn, 1962 and Toulmin, 1963). For example, Kuhn (1962) has proposed a model of scientific change that has stirred considerable controversy. Briefly, he argues that growth and development of scientific knowledge occur as a result of the developments of paradigm or model of scientific achievement that set guidelines for research. After a period of normal "science", during which the implications of the paradigm are explored, the facts that the paradigms cannot explain become inescapable. The field then goes through a period of "crisis" during which a new paradigm is proposed and eventually accepted.

4. The last approach examines the way scientists use the scientific literature, particularly the extent to which they cite recent literature compared to older sources, and literature in their own fields compared to other fields. An analysis of the structure of literature shows that each new piece of scientific literature is related to several previous pieces, which, in turn are related to still earlier works (Price, 1965a). The scientific literature grows very rapidly. But, the "life" of an individual paper is very short, with the exceptions of few classics. The papers generally become "old" or obsolete in a period of five years. Papers published more than 15 year ago, become almost useless in scientific fields (Burton and Kebler, 1960); since the research "front" moves too far ahead.  

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