CFP: Ethnography in Sociology of Science and Technology

[Helena Pettersson]

Call for Papers for the Session

 

Ethnography in Sociology of Science and Technology

Session by RC 33 (Research Committee on Logic and Methodology)

at the 2^nd ISA Forum of Sociology (“Social Justice and Democratization”)
August 1^st – 4^th, 2012, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

 

Session Organizers:
Grit Petschick  (gritpe...@googlemail.com, Technical University Berlin, Germany)
Helena Pettersson  (helena.p...@kultmed.umu.se, Umeå Universitet, Sweden)

Nina Baur  (nina...@tu-berlin.de, Technical University Berlin)

 

 

Ethnography is a methodological approach widely used in the sociology of science and technology. The Sessions aims to explore specific methodological problems and strategies of using ethnography in this field. Papers for this session should therefore address one or more of the following questions:

 

-      What are the advantages and disadvantages of using ethnography in sociology of science and technology in comparison to other methods? What alternatives do exist (e.g. case studies, interviews, surveys, public administrative data)? When and why should which method be preferred?

-      What are the specific challenges of using ethnography in sociology of science and technology (e.g. in field access, data collection, data analysis), and how can they be solved?

-      What is the relation between theory and data, i.e. how can theoretical concepts of sociology of science and technology be linked to ethnographic data?

-      Which field-specific adaptations of ethnography do exist in order to solve these problems? What are the characteristics of these field-specific adaptations, e.g. “Technography” (Werner Rammert), Institutional Ethnography (Dorothy E. Smith)? How do they differ from classical ethnography? Which of these adaptations should be preferred and why?

-      What are the advantages and disadvantages of using ethnography analyzing categories of inequality in sociology of science and technology in comparison to other methods?

Papers debating these general methodological issues and papers discussing specific problems using a concrete ethnographic study in a specific research project are both equally welcome.

Submission

Please submit an abstract online to the centralized conference website created by Congrex. Please note that only abstracts submitted online can be incorporated in the sessions, and no changes/updates to the submitted abstract will be allowed. It is the author’s responsibility to submit a correct abstract – any errors in spelling, grammar, or scientific fact will be reproduced as typed by the author.

Deadlines:

Submission of abstracts	December 15th, 2011
Notification of authors	January 31st, 2012
Registration for the Conference	April 10th, 2012

Further Information

On the Conference:	http://www.isa-sociology.org/buenos-aires-2012/
On ISA:	http://www.isa-sociology.org/
On RC 33:	http://www.isa-sociology.org/rc33.htm