Social and cultural influences in the development of science

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the influence of social and cultural factors on the development of science. It includes ideological, valuational, economic, demographic, and linguistic influences, as well as those deriving from social organization or structure. It is not concerned with (a) the internal development of science itself, as a cumulative body of proposi tions, (b) factors peculiar to the life history of individual scientists, or (c) the social and institutional structure of scientific activity. Two works have appeared in recent years which bear a close relationship to the approach used here: Bernard Barber, Science and the social order (Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press, 1952); and Gerard DeGr?, Science asa social institution (Garden City: Doubleday, 1955). In general, however, the types of ideas which constitute the content of this paper are to be found scattered through a wide variety of historical and sociological literature. The significance of a study of this kind may be seen in (a) its importance for increasing our knowledge of the relationship between systems of ideas and existential conditions, and (b) its applicability to the problem of how the development of knowledge may be furthered, or directed along desired paths a problem of particular importance when there is fear of some of the applications of science and a desire to limit inquiry to 'safe' topics. It should be noted that science, as an impersonal, cumulative system of empirically based knowledge, is probably less influenced by factors external to the system than are other systems of ideas or other forms of intellectual activity. The reasons for this lower degree of susceptibility are to be found in the internal characteristics of scientific development: (a) the fact that any scientific achievement is based on previous work, so that the direction of work is determined, in part, by the existing state of knowledge; (b) the fact that scientific ideas are limited by the demand that they be consistent with the data of observation; (c) the fact that any given scientific theory must meet criteria of logical consistency. The influence