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Abstract
In the sociology of science and sociology of scientific knowledge, the decline of functionalism during the 1970s opened the field to a wide range of theoretical possibilities. However, a Marxist-influenced alternative to functionalism, interests analysis, quickly disappeared, and feminist-multicultural frameworks failed to achieved a dominant position in the field. Instead, functionalism was replaced by a variety of agency-based frameworks that focused on constructive or performative processes. The shift in the sociology of science from Mertonian functionalism to the poststrong program, agency-based sociology of scientific knowledge has parallels with the broader shift in political ideologies from social liberalism to neoliberalism. The argument is made in a way that is cognizant of the criticisms raised against interests analysis and avoids the “short circuit” of class imputation. Instead, the approach defends the potential for a more integrated approach to the structure-agency-meaning triangle in STS via the use of field sociology.
Notes
The following essay was developed from invited comments made at a special session on neoliberalism and STS at the Japanese Society for Science and Technology Studies in Tokyo, August 2010. The special session, organized by Professor Hidetoshi Kihara, discussed the demise of Marxist and related theoretical frameworks in STS in Japan. This study addresses the issue more generally for STS as a field, with a focus on neoliberalism and STS theory in northern Europe and the Anglophone countries.