Postmodernism and Science

How is science a
metanarrative?
 Starter

"What is emerging in this line of thought is the picture of scientists

actively constructing scientific knowledge rather than passively noting
laws that are found in nature. This has clear implications for the status
of the scientific knowledge deserves.“ Crotty (1998)
 This position has clear implications for debate over the status of
sociology as a science. We could make one of two conclusions:
􀂸 Sociology is a science - insofar the natural sciences also suffer with
issues relating to establishing causality, remaining objective and
producing truly predictive generalised laws.
􀂸 Sociology isn't a science - but why should it want to be a science,
considering that science is just one of a competing set of belief
systems (albeit one with a high level of prestige).
 The second of these views has been particularly influential in the
postmodern perspective on knowledge and society
 Postmodernism and Science
• Defining feature of PM is rejection of metanarratives – no
such thing as one “truth”, only a set of competing
explanations, each with relative value.
• Science, is an example of a metanarrative, so PM theorists
do not assign automatic prestige to scientific understanding.
• Like any form of knowledge, science is a product of the
values and assumptions of the people who produce it.
• In modern western society it is afforded too much prestige
and too much faith is placed upon its truths.
• We should not accept the theories of scientists
unquestioningly, and maintain a critical perspective .
Key Theorists
Paul Feyerabend: science “is too obsessed with its own
mythology...making claims far beyond its capacity”:
- Science does itself a disservice by believing its own publicity, such
academic arrogance prevents the questioning of its own assumptions
and leaves flaws in its methodologies.
- Whilst science originated as a liberating force, it has lost its way and is
too often used to justify the status of the powerful within society.
- All knowledge has relative value but science has obtained a
tyrannical stranglehold on “the truth” (view reflected by Rorty who
argues that scientists have replaced priests as “the source of truth”)
- No single ideological framework should be allowed to dominate
society - he calls for “an anarchy of knowledge”. So, science and
state should be kept seperate - as religion and state are seperated in
modern secular societies.
Michel Foucault furthers this view by combining postmodern and
Marxist perspectives to form an even more critical stance (technically
a post-structuralist).
The “truth” is relative and socially constructed but those people who can
claim to have privileged access to truth gain considerable power in
society. He conducted an historical anlysis into sexuality and mental
health - demonstrating how groups to whom truth is ascribed
maintain dominance by defining right/ wrong, natural/ unnatural .
Useful Conclusion

“In this context, the debates we have examined

(in these 5 lessons) relate not just to a
methodological debate. Rather, they reflect a
deeper, more fundamental power game, in
which science, religion - and indeed
sociology - are embroiled in a struggle to
have their worldviews, their theories, defined
as truth; a move which will assign to them
power and control over other social actors.”
Homework

1/06 Evaluate how the concepts of modernity

and post-modernity have influenced
sociologists’ understanding of society today.
(33 marks)
…bring in science as much as possible