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Ideology and Science in Beliefs - Coggle Diagram
Ideology and Science in Beliefs
Open Belief Systems
Popper
argues that 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 falsification, attempting to disprove existing theories. This enables scientific understanding of the world to grow.
Merton
argues that science has grown so much as it receives support from other institutions and values. Science first grew from the values and attitudes associated with puritanism. Puritanism also stressed social welfare so they were interested in technology that could improve conditions of life.
Merton
argues that science as an institution needs an 'ethos' or 'norms' for scientists to act in ways that serve the goal of increasing scientific knowledge:
Communism
- Scientific knowledge is not private property; it must be shared for knowledge to grow.
Universalism
- The truth of falsity of scientific knowledge is judged by universal testing and criteria, without prejudice or interference.
Disinterestedness - This means being committed to discovering knowledge for its own sake - To avoid fraud
Organised scepticism
- No knowledge claim is sacred. Every idea is open to investigation and objective investigation
Science as a closed belief system
Kuhn
argues that scientists work within a paradigm. Scientists are socialised into using the paradigm and challenged if not, maybe even ridiculed or hounded out of the profession. Only exceptions are 'scientific revolutions' when faith in the truth of a paradigm has already been undermined by the accumulation of anomalies.
Geology, Biology and Physics are based on a shared set of assumptions (a paradigm)
Interpretivist sociologists have developed Kuhn's idea further. They argue that all knowledge - including scientific - is socially constructed. Scientific 'facts' are a product of shared theories or paradigms that tell them what they should expect to see; inventions such as telescopes and microscopes etc allow the scientist to construct or 'fabricate' new facts.
Marxism, Feminism and Postmodernism
These theories see scientific knowledge as far from pure truth. Instead they regard it as serving the interests of dominant groups (r/c and men). In some respects science can be seen as a form of ideology.
Lyotard
states that science is simply another 'meta-narrative' or 'big story' that falsify claims to the truth.
Ideology
4 main aspects to ideology:
Distorted or mistaken, one-sided view of the world/reality
Ideas that conceal the interests of a particular group, or that legitimate their privileges
Ideas that prevent change by misleading people about the reality of the situation
A self-sustaining belief system that is irrational and closed to criticism
Marxism & Ideology
Marxism sees society as divided into two opposed classes - Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. The Bourgeoisie exploit the Proletariat to produce profit. The Proletariat are largely unaware that they're being exploited (FCC) as 'Ideology' is evident through all institutions in society which justifies the 'status quo'.
Hegemony & Revolution
Gramsci
refers to r/c ideological domination as ideology. Argues the w/c can develop ideas to challenge the r/c hegemony. Capitalist society and workers have a dual consciousness - a mixture of r/c ideas and their own ideas they develop in response to their exploitation and struggles against it. Believes its possible for the w/c to develop class consciousness and overthrow capitalism. This requires a political party of 'organic intellectuals' to spread the 'class consciousness' throughout the w/c.
EV
: Critics argue its not dominant ideology that keeps the workers in line and prevents overthrowing of capitalism bit its the fear of unemployment that keeps workers from rebelling
Ideology of Nationalism
Marxists
argue that nationalism is a form of false class consciousness that helps to prevent the overthrow of capitalism by dividing the international w/c. This is because nationalism encourages workers to believe they have more in common with the capitalists of their country than with workers of other countries.
Functionalists
see nationalism as a secular civil religion, which unites everyone into a single national community. Like religion it integrates individuals into larger social and political units, making them feel part of something greater than themselves. For functionalists, education plays an important part in creating social solidarity and this may include collective rituals such as the flag and national anthem.
Gellner
argues that nationalism is a modern phenomenon. Industrialisation created large scale impersonal societies with a complex division of labour, so modern society needs some means of enabling communication between strangers to take place, especially in the economy. Nationalism makes this possible through an education state which imposes a single standard national culture and language on every member of society.
Nationalism is a political ideology that argues nations are real, distinctive communities which should be self-governing and that national loyalty and identity should come before all others such as tribe, class or religion
Ideology & Utopia
Karl Mannheim
sets all belief systems as a partial or one-sided view. Their one-sidedness results from being the viewpoint of one particular group or class and its interests. Too broad types of worldview or belief system are evident:
Ideological thought
- Justifies keeping things as they are
Utopian thought
- Justifies social change
Mannheim sees these worldviews as creations of groups of intellectuals who attach themselves to particular classes of social groups. The belief system of each class or group only gives us a partial truth about the world. For him, it's a source of conflict in society.
The free-floating intelligentsia
The solution to detach the intellectuals from the social groups and have a 'free floating intelligentsia' standing above the conflict freed from representing the interests of any group they could synthesise elements of patrial ideologies and utopia and so arrive at a 'total world view'
EV
: Many elements of different political ideologies are diametrically opposed so its hard to imagine them synthesised
Feminism and Ideology
Feminists
see gender inequality as the fundamental division in society and 'patriarchal ideology' as playing a key role in legitimising it. Feminists argue that science has consistently been used to justify the exclusion of women from education for example.