The sociological determinants of scientific bias

ABSTRACT

Science is an ethical community whose practitioners aim to discover information about the natural world and to explain discernible patterns that might be detected. Those who pursue science generally embrace certain epistemic values that help establish the moral boundaries of the community, while the twin pillars of rationality and empiricism serve as the foundations upon which scientists establish their truth claims. Yet however robust the assertions might appear, they nevertheless are the by-products of an exclusively human endeavor directly impacted by those sociological forces that apply throughout the social universe, including the scientist’s social location and the importance of enhancing one’s reputation. The current paper identifies key sociological factors that help shape scientific bias and the nature of the justifications used to defend truth claims. A case study of one community committed to a sociological paradigm demonstrates the utility of the explanatory framework advanced. A more self-conscious awareness of the forces at play that create such biases can help mitigate their deleterious impacts that subvert the quest for explanatory knowledge and valid truth claims about observable phenomena.

KEYWORDS:

• Scientific bias
• theory
• sociology
• case study

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. A high-status individual may maintain one’s status while interacting with low-status followers in the context of leadership positions in organizations, public settings, or more instrumental associations. In contrast, having more intimate associations of an expressive nature (e.g., sharing meals or informal friendships) will tend to lower one’s status by blurring social boundaries and even diluting the degree to which elites maintain control over valued resources or monopolize their expertise.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joseph H. Michalski

Joseph H. Michalski is a Professor of Sociology at King’s University College at Western. His main intellectual interest involves the development of integrated theories of human behavior rooted in the combination of social, cultural, and psychological determinants.