IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v51y2001i2d10.1023_a1012714020453.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The cognitive and the social structure of STS

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Van Den Besselaar

    (University of Amsterdam)

Abstract

The differentiation of scientific fields into sub-fields can be studiedon the level of the 'scientific content' of the sub-field, thatis on the level of the products, as well as on the level of the 'socialstructures' of the sub-field, that is on the level of the producersof the content. By comparing the behavior of the constructs with the behaviorof the constructors, we are able to demonstrate the analytical distinctionbetween a cognitive and a social approach in an empirical way. This will beillustrated using the case of integration and differentiation in Science andTechnology Studies (STS). Elsewhere, using relations between documents, Ishowed how STS is characterized by strong differentiation tendencies. In thispaper I address the question to what extent this differentiation is also reflectedin the social structure of the STS field. Can STS scholars and STS researchgroups be classified in terms of the sub-fields? Or do researchers and institutescarry an integrative role in the STS field? Are the relations between thesub-fields of STS maintained by individual researchers or research institutes,and to what extent? The analysis in this paper reveals that this is generallynot the case. Although we are able to distinguish analytically between thecognitive and social dimension of the development of the research field, wefind similar patterns of differentiation on the social level too. At the sametime, this differentiation differs in some respects from the cognitive differentiationpattern. Consequently, the social and the cognitive dimensions of the STSfield are not independent – as no serious STS scholar would argue –but also not identical, as radical constructivists claim, but are stronglyinteracting. Further analysis may reveal the leading dynamics, that is answeringthe question whether the 'social' follows the 'cognitive',the other way around, or whether the dynamics has the pattern of 'co-evolution'.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Van Den Besselaar, 2001. "The cognitive and the social structure of STS," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 51(2), pages 441-460, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:51:y:2001:i:2:d:10.1023_a:1012714020453
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1012714020453
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1023/A:1012714020453
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1023/A:1012714020453?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Martin, Ben R. & Nightingale, Paul & Yegros-Yegros, Alfredo, 2012. "Science and technology studies: Exploring the knowledge base," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(7), pages 1182-1204.
    2. Milojević, Staša & Sugimoto, Cassidy R. & Larivière, Vincent & Thelwall, Mike & Ding, Ying, 2014. "The role of handbooks in knowledge creation and diffusion: A case of science and technology studies," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 693-709.
    3. Loet Leydesdorff, 2015. "Can intellectual processes in the sciences also be simulated? The anticipation and visualization of possible future states," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 105(3), pages 2197-2214, December.
    4. Donald deB. Beaver, 2012. "Quantity is only one of the qualities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 93(1), pages 33-39, October.
    5. Bar-Ilan, Judit, 2008. "Informetrics at the beginning of the 21st century—A review," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-52.
    6. Staša Milojević & Loet Leydesdorff, 2013. "Information metrics (iMetrics): a research specialty with a socio-cognitive identity?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(1), pages 141-157, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:51:y:2001:i:2:d:10.1023_a:1012714020453. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.