Western hegemony in the social sciences: fields and model systems

Krause, Monika (2016) Western hegemony in the social sciences: fields and model systems. Sociological Review Monographs, 64 (2). 194 - 211. ISSN 0081-1769

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Abstract

This paper discusses the role of privileged research objects (‘model systems’) in producing patterns in transnational knowledge production. In its approach it follows Bourdieu's call to focus on contexts of production and forces internal to disciplines as well as his insistence on practice. Learning from work in science and technology studies it also considers material objects of knowledge and spaces of knowledge-production. It discusses the case of sociology and argues that conventions surrounding privileged research objects matter relatively independently of authors’ national origin or field-position. Examining model systems, I argue, can contribute to our understanding of how some well-established inequalities are produced and reproduced. This focus adds specific stakes to the debates about global knowledge production: we can discuss the problem of neglected cases in ways that are not always included in current reflections that draw on general political – rather than specifically knowledge-political – categories.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/20597932
Additional Information:	© 2016 Sociological Review Publication
Divisions:	Sociology
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Date Deposited:	13 Oct 2016 14:43
Last Modified:	05 Apr 2024 21:36
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/68017

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