This study develops and tests the strengths and weaknesses of an analytical framework entitled
sociologies to examine students' responses to socioscientific issues. Sociologies (Latour,
1987) is defined as the unpredictable and heterogeneous networks of links and associations that
constitute the construction, accumulation, and mobilization of knowledge in the face of
controversy. Recognizing the asymmetry of knowledge production, sociologies looks at how
some knowledge is rendered more credible, and more powerful, than others. The framework
consists of five questions: a) how causes and effects are attributed; b) what points (ideas) are
linked to which other; c) what size and strength these links have; d) who the most legitimate
spokespersons are; and e) and how all these elements are modified during the controversy.
Latour calls the answer to these five questions "sociologies". Under this rubric, the production
of knowledge is contentious because knowledge is socially constructed in a world where
discourse and politics and knowledge and power are inextricably related. I argue that the
framework of sociologies is an improvement upon commonly used analytical frameworks in
socioscientific research in education as, unlike previous forms of analysis, it foregrounds the
social construction of knowledge (as evidenced in discourse) and highlights the contentious,
complex, unpredictable, and dynamic nature of knowledge production prevalent in these
issues.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/4799 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Fountain, Renee-Marie |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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