course can be enrolled in outside the study plan enabled for web enrollment priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan can be fulfilled in the future
The course introduces students to how historical sociology is analyzing modern science. Upon completing this course, the students will be informed about the basic historical transformations that science and scientific knowledge have undergone in modern society and will be able to identify and grasp the main analytical methods applied in social studies of science. The first part of the course focuses on key structural presuppositions of modern science: scientific disciplines, intellectual market, professions and bureaucracy as ways of organizing knowledge, and political ideologies. Second part focuses on the main methods used in analysis and critique of scientific knowledge: the approach of Michel Foucault, sociology of science, social constructionism, post-colonial and feminist studies of science. The course concludes by a discussion of contemporary society as a “knowledge-based society”.
Last update: Mgr. Karolína Šedivcová (04.06.2019)
The course introduces students to the historical sociological analysis of modern science. Upon completing this
course, students will be informed about the basic historical transformations that science and scientific knowledge
have undergone in modern society and will be able to identify and grasp the main analytical methods applied in
social studies of science. The first part of the course focuses on key structural presuppositions of modern science:
scientific disciplines, the intellectual market, professions and bureaucracy as ways of organizing knowledge, and
political ideologies. The second part focuses on the main methods used in analysis and critique of scientific
knowledge: the approach of Michel Foucault, sociology of science, social constructionism, and post-colonial and
feminist studies of science. The course concludes with a discussion of contemporary society as a “knowledge-
based society”.
Syllabus -
Last update: Michael Voříšek (03.10.2021)
Lessons‘ topics:
1. Introduction: pre-modern forms of knowledge and modern science
2. The origin of scientific disciplines
3. Intellectuals and the intellectual field (Pierre Bourdieu)
4. Professions and professionalization
5. Bureaucracy and the process of bureaucratization
6. Ideologies and the critique of ideology
7. Science and power, science and the state (Michel Foucault)
8. Critique of technical knowledge (Bruno Latour, Ullrich Beck)
9. Social constructionism and the critique of scientific knowledge
10. Feminist and post-colonial analyses of science
11. Knowledge-based society and its inner contradictions
12. Conclusion: the evolution of science and historical sociology
Beck, Ulrich, Risk Society: Towards a New Moderity, transl. Mark Ritter, London: Sage 1992.
Fleck, Ludwik, Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1979.
Foucault, Michel, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, transl. Alan Sheridan, Harmondsworth: Penguin 1991.
Freeden, Michael, Ideology: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2003.
Hacking, Ian, TheSocial Construction of What? Harvard: Harvard University Press 2000.
Harding, Sandra (ed.), The Postcolonial Science and Technology Studies Reader, Durham: Duke University Press 2011.
Illich, Ivan, Deschooling Society, New York: Harper & Row 1971.
Kuhn, Thomas S., The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1970.
Latour, Bruno, Science in Action. How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society, Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Press 1987.
Sismondo, Sergio, An Introduction to Science and Technology Studies, 2nd ed., Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell 2010.
Yearley, Steven, Making Sense of Science: Understanding the Social Study of Science, London: Sage 2005.
Course completion requirements
Last update: Michael Voříšek (10.10.2023)
Course assignments :
1. 100% attendance. If a student skips a lesson, s/he must listen to the webcast and write a position paper on the readings. The position paper, together with two questions on the webcast, must be sent to the teacher no later than 24 hours before the next class. This is applicable to maximum half of the lessons – should the student skip more lessons, s/he will fail the course. Position paper must have 1-2 pages (1,800-3 ,600 characters spaces incl.) and answer the key questions on the readings, as specified for each lesson in Moodle. Longer or shorter papers will not be accepted. Position paper has to be submitted 24 hrs before the lesson starts.
2. Participating in discussion at each web-based lesson, based on the readings assigned to the lesson. Guidance (key questions for readings) is provided for each lesson in Moodle. Should this requirement not be met (= esp. if the student has not read the assigned text), the concerned student will have to submit a position paper.
3. Book review. The review must have 3-5 pages (5,400 – 9,000 characters spaces incl.). Reviews shorter or longer than that will not be accepted. The list of books for review is attached below. Other books for review may be agreed with the teacher. The book review has to be submitted by 16 December 2022.
4. Discussion (colloquium) based on the book reviews.
Edward Said, Orientalism. Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish. Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society.
