Open Science, Epistemic

Cultures, and Social Structures

PD Dr. Werner Reichmann

#PHOS16, Helsinki, 30 September 2016
2 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
 Open Data
Citizen Science

Open Innovation
Open Government
Open Access
Open Source
[...]

3 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
A sociologists’ view:
(1) The Structue(s) of Open Science

– Market Structures
– Publishing Market
– Data Market
– Labor Market
– Software Market
– Social Structures
– ...

4 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
A sociologists’ view:
(1) The Structue(s) of Open Science

– Market Structures
– Publishing Market
– Data Market
– Labor Market
– Software Market
– Social Structures
– ...

(2) Open Science as Epistemic Culture

The doing, enacting and practicing Open Science.

5 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
Publishing Market Structures in Transition

APC-costs in Germany 2011-2015 (Jahn and Tullney 2016:887)

6 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
Publishing Market Structures in Transition

+350%

APC-costs in Germany 2011-2015 (Jahn and Tullney 2016:887)

7 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
Open Social Structure of Academia?

Is the social structure of

academia, from student to
professors, an open structure?

8 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
Open Social Structure of Academia? (Germany)
Social Background – Students (Data from 2009)

Possibility to go to university fo children ...

...from non-academic households 23%
… from academic households 77%

Proportion = 1:3,3

(Source: Middendorff et al. 2013:11)

9 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
Open Social Structure of Academia? (Germany/NRW)
Social Background – Profs (Data from 2013)

Where do Profs socially come from?

Senior civil servants/Management Staff
Society (1950s-1980s) 2,5%
Fathers of Profs (2013) 42,3%
Freelancer(=Lawyers & Physicians)/Entrepreneurs
Society (1950s-1980s) 1%
Fathers of Profs (2013) 12,8%

(Source: Möller 2013:349)

10 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
Open Social Structure of Academia? (Germany/NRW)
Social Closure of Disciplines (Data from 2013)

n β

Law & Life Sciences 147 Reference

STEM 234 -0,404

Humanities 340 -0,415

Social Sciences 198 -0,706

(Ordinal Logistic Regression (McCullagh 1980); Extract; Sig. p>0,05; Source: Möller 2013:352)

11 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
Open Social Structure of Academia? (Germany)
Gender (data from 2015)

All Women Men

n % %
Profs 46344 23 77
Scientists 239200 39 61
Non-scientific staff 299074 70 30

Students 2015 2757799 48 52

1st term-students 432589 49,95 50,05

(Source: www.destatis.de)
12 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
Open Science as Epistemic Culture(s)
What are Epistemic Cultures?

13 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
Open Science as Epistemic Culture(s)
What are Epistemic Cultures?

(Source: Knorr Cetina 1981)

14 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
Open Science as Epistemic Culture(s)
What are Epistemic Cultures?

„[E]pistemic cultures: those amalgams of arrangements and

mechanisms—bonded through affinity, necessity, and historical co-
incidence—which, in a given field, make up how we know what we
know. Epistemic cultures are cultures that create and warrant
knowledge, and the premier knowledge institution throughout the
world is, still, science.“
(Knorr Cetina 1999:1; original emphasis)

15 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
Open Science as Epistemic Culture(s)
What are Epistemic Cultures?

„[E]pistemic cultures: those amalgams of arrangements and

mechanisms—bonded through affinity, necessity, and historical co-
incidence—which, in a given field, make up how we know what we
know. Epistemic cultures are cultures that create and warrant
knowledge, and the premier knowledge institution throughout the
world is, still, science.“
(Knorr Cetina 1999:1; original emphasis)

Epistemic
Truth-related goals

16 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
Open Science as Epistemic Culture(s)
What are Epistemic Cultures?

„[E]pistemic cultures: those amalgams of arrangements and

mechanisms—bonded through affinity, necessity, and historical co-
incidence—which, in a given field, make up how we know what we
know. Epistemic cultures are cultures that create and warrant
knowledge, and the premier knowledge institution throughout the
world is, still, science.“
(Knorr Cetina 1999:1; original emphasis)

Epistemic Cultures
Truth-related goals Performance

17 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
Cultural Practices of Openess
3 empirical examples (Levin and Leonelli 2016)

Biological Materials Research Tools Common Resources

(Transgenic Mice) (Software) (Database)

When? How? Who?

18 30 Nov 2016 OpenScience, Epistemic Cultures, and Social Sciences Universität Konstanz
Kiitos
kiinnostuksestanne!

PD Dr. Werner Reichmann

University of Konstanz • Department of Sociology

werner.reichmann@uni-konstanz.de