The Clash of Practice: Time, Force, and Science

Author: (USA) Pickering / Xing Dongmei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: This is a highly richly-structured book contributed by a highly creative author in the field of science and cultural studies. It offers a completely new understanding of the production of scientific knowledge, scientific practice, mathematical practice, and engineering practice. In scientific practice, Andrew Pickering combines various factors such as social, technical, conceptual, and metaphysical elements. He describes science as a field of infinite open-ended interactions between machines, instruments, facts, theories, human-constrained practices, and social relationships, intertwined and colliding with each other, which he calls "the clash of practices." The core of several extended case studies in the book is to demonstrate how the concept of "clash" has developed our understanding of the past and present of scientific practice. Pickering specifically discusses the construction of bubble chambers and the pursuit of quarks in the field of physics, the construction of quaternions in the field of mathematics, and the introduction of numerical control machines in industrial production, emphasizing the mutual shaping of human power, material power, and social power under certain conditions. The core of these studies is to illustrate the fundamental aspects of scientific practice—the development of experimental instruments, the production of facts, the creation of theories, and the interconnections between machines and social organizations. The Clash of Practices is a continuation of Pickering's influential research on Constructing Quarks, challenging existing ideas about scientific practice, the role of scientists, and the nature of scientific truth. For anyone interested in deepening their understanding of the interrelationships between science, technology, and society, The Clash of Practices is a useful book; for sociologists, historians, and philosophers of science, it is also a fundamental reading.