# kb

id: swedish-research-council-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Research_Council-0.md
category: reference
title: Swedish Research Council
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Research_Council
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:14.563911+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: swedish-research-council-20260505-0
summary:
The Swedish Research Council (Swedish: Vetenskapsrådet) is a Government agency in Sweden established in 2001, with the responsibility to support and develop basic scientific research. Its objective is for Sweden to be a leading nation in scientific research. The agency has three main functions: To distribute government funding for basic research To advise the government on issues related to scientific research To communicate science and scientific research to the general public == See also == Open access in Sweden == References == == External links == Swedish Research Council - Official site


id: swiss-national-science-foundation-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_National_Science_Foundation-0.md
category: reference
title: Swiss National Science Foundation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_National_Science_Foundation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:15.836178+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: swiss-national-science-foundation-20260505-0
summary:
The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF, German: Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, SNF; French: Fonds national suisse de la recherche scientifique, FNS; Italian: Fondo nazionale svizzero per la ricerca scientifica) or Swiss National Fund is a science research support organisation mandated by the Swiss Federal Government. The Swiss National Science Foundation was established under private law by physicist and medical doctor Alexander von Muralt in 1952. == Organisation == The SNSF consists of three main bodies: Foundation Council, National Research Council and Administrative Offices. The Foundation Council is the highest authority and makes strategic decisions. The National Research Council is composed of distinguished researchers who mostly work at Swiss institutions of higher education. They assess research proposals submitted to the SNSF and make funding decisions. The National Research Council comprises up to 100 members and is subdivided into four divisions: Division I: humanities and social sciences Division II: mathematics, natural sciences and engineering sciences Division III: biology and medicine Division IV: programmes (National Research Programmes and National Centres of Competence in Research) Mandated by the federal authorities, the Swiss National Science Foundation supports basic science in all academic disciplines. == Research programmes == The National Research Programmes (NRP)


id: uk-research-and-innovation-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Research_and_Innovation-0.md
category: reference
title: UK Research and Innovation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Research_and_Innovation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:17.191723+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: uk-research-and-innovation-20260505-0
summary:
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is a non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom that directs research and innovation funding, funded through the science budget of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. == History and role == UKRI was created following a report by Sir Paul Nurse, the President of the Royal Society, who recommended the merger in order to increase integrative cross-disciplinary research. UKRI was established on 1 April 2018 by the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. It brought together the seven research councils and two additional bodies, Innovate UK and Research England. Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board) was an arm's length body of the Department of Trade and Industry, while Research England succeeded the former Higher Education Funding Council for England. Research England is responsible for the Research Excellence Framework, or REF, and is developing a new knowledge exchange framework, KEF. Working in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government, its mission is to foster research and development within the United Kingdom and create a positive "impact"—"push the frontiers of human knowledge and understanding", "deliver economic impact", and "create social and cultural impact". The first Chief Executive Officer of


id: wellcome-trust-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellcome_Trust-0.md
category: reference
title: Wellcome Trust
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellcome_Trust
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:18.459047+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: wellcome-trust-20260505-0
summary:
The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predecessors of GSK plc) to fund research to improve human and animal health. The aim of the Trust is to "support science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone." It had a financial endowment of £37.6 billion in 2025, making it the fourth wealthiest charitable foundation in the world. In 2012, the Wellcome Trust was described by the Financial Times as the United Kingdom's largest provider of non-governmental funding for scientific research, and one of the largest providers in the world. According to their annual report, the Wellcome Trust spent GBP £1.1 billion on charitable activities across their 2023/2024 financial year. According to the OECD, the Wellcome Trust's financing for 2019 development increased by 22% to US$327 million. == Headquarters == The Wellcome Trust's operations are run from two buildings on Euston Road in London. The Wellcome Building, at 183 Euston Road, built in 1932 in Portland stone houses the Wellcome Collection and the adjoining glass and steel building at 215 Euston Road


id: wellcome-trust-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellcome_Trust-1.md
category: reference
title: Wellcome Trust
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellcome_Trust
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:18.459047+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: wellcome-trust-20260505-0
summary:
=== Support for open access and open data === The Wellcome Trust plays an important role in encouraging publication of research in open access repositories such as Europe PubMed Central (EuropePMC). The Wellcome Trust believes that maximising the distribution of these papers – by providing free, online access – is the most effective way of ensuring that the research can be accessed, read and built upon. In turn, this will foster a richer research culture. In 2016, the Wellcome Trust partnered with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to launch the Open Science Prize to "help develop services, tools and platforms that enable open content to be discovered, assessed and re-used in ways that will advance discovery and spark innovation." In 2016, Wellcome Trust announced that it would be launching Wellcome Open Research, an open access publication system running on the F1000 Research platform. Article processing charges will be covered directly by Wellcome Trust. Papers from the system are now indexed in PubMed Central. === Membership in the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT) === In the summer of 2015, the Wellcome Trust joined the Japanese government, 7 Japanese pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies,


id: academic-imperialism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_imperialism-0.md
category: reference
title: Academic imperialism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_imperialism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:20.078935+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: academic-imperialism-20260505-0
summary:
Academic imperialism is an unequal relationship between groups or disciplines of academic study, such that one dominates others, consuming them or leaving them ignored. Early theories of academic imperialism date to the 1960s. == Definitions == Academic imperialism has been defined either in the context of certain disciplines or subdisciplines as oppressing others or (more often) as part of political imperialism that has resulted in inequality between academia in the First World (the West) and Third World. === Within disciplines === In the intradisciplinary context, an example of imperialistic behavior was the dismissive attitude of the 1920s-1930s adherents of behavioral psychology in the United States towards non-behavioral psychologists. === Internationally === In the international context, academic imperialism began in the colonial period when the colonial powers designed and implemented a system of academia in their colonial territories. C. K. Raju claims academic imperialism emerged thanks to racism among native colonial elites. Academic imperialism is blamed for "tutelage, conformity, secondary role of dominated intellectuals and scholars, rationalization of the civilizing mission, and the inferior talent of scholars from the home country specializing in studies of the colony." In the modern postcolonial era, academic imperialism has transformed itself into a more indirect


id: boundary-object-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_object-0.md
category: reference
title: Boundary object
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_object
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:21.317357+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: boundary-object-20260505-0
summary:
In sociology and science and technology studies, a boundary object is information, such as specimens, field notes, and maps, used in different ways by different communities for collaborative work through scales. Boundary objects are plastic, interpreted differently across communities but with enough immutable content (i.e., common identity across social words and contexts) to maintain integrity. The concept was introduced by Susan Leigh Star and James R. Griesemer in a 1989 publication (p. 393): Boundary objects are objects which are both plastic enough to adapt to local needs and constraints of the several parties employing them, yet robust enough to maintain a common identity across sites. They are weakly structured in common use, and become strongly structured in individual-site use. They may be abstract or concrete. They have different meanings in different social worlds but their structure is common enough to more than one world to make them recognizable, a means of translation. The creation and management of boundary objects is key in developing and maintaining coherence across intersecting social worlds. In their article, Star and Griesemer describe the importance of boundary objects and methods standardization in the development of the Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Boundary objects can be abstract


id: boundary-work-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary-work-0.md
category: reference
title: Boundary-work
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary-work
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:22.504886+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: boundary-work-20260505-0
summary:
Boundary-work is part of science studies. In boundary-work, boundaries, demarcations, or other divisions between fields of knowledge are created, advocated, attacked, or reinforced. Such delineations often have high stakes for the participants, and carry the implication that such boundaries are flexible and socially constructed. == Thomas F. Gieryn == The original use of the term "boundary-work" for these sorts of issues has been attributed to Thomas F. Gieryn, a sociologist, who initially used it to discuss the problem of demarcation, the philosophical difficulty of coming up with a rigorous delineation between what is "science" and what is "non-science". Gieryn defined boundary-work as the "attribution of selected characteristics to [an] institution of science (i.e., to its practitioners, methods, stock of knowledge, values and work organization) for purposes of constructing a social boundary that distinguishes some intellectual activities as [outside that boundary]." Gieryn suggests that Philosophers and sociologists of science, such as Karl Popper and Robert K. Merton, long struggled to come up with a criterion which would distinguish science as unique from other knowledge-generating activities, but never were able to come up with one that was stable, transhistorical, or worked reliably. Gieryn's 1983 article on boundary-work and demarcation highlighted that the


id: empirical-sociology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empirical_sociology-0.md
category: reference
title: Empirical sociology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empirical_sociology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:23.723030+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: empirical-sociology-20260505-0
summary:
Empirical sociology is the study of sociology based on methodological methods and techniques for collecting, processing, and communicating primary sociological information. Describes the situation of the aspects of social life such as economy, law, family, and politics during the research. Empirical sociology is often concerned with aspects of everyday life with common sense, which it treats as a resource, a form of knowledge. Empirical sociology inductively studies how people appreciate and get along with each other. Empirical sociology is an American tradition with roots in the social reform movements of the Progressive Era. == Definition == The task of empirical sociology is to conduct inductive research on a particular social phenomenon. The German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies defined empirical sociology as the collection of factual information or evidence. Sociologist Morris Janowitz defined empirical sociology as collecting and planning empirical indicators of change. Morris describes the relationship between history and empirical sociology as "At this point, sociology and "history” converge. All empirical sociology is history, but history is not all empirical sociology". == Timeline == The first stage of empirical sociology was represented by the changes introduced into the scientific procedure by the Chicago school between 1895 and 1929. The American sociologist


id: epistemic-cultures-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemic_cultures-0.md
category: reference
title: Epistemic cultures
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemic_cultures
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:29.445182+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: epistemic-cultures-20260505-0
summary:
Epistemic cultures (often used in plural form) is a concept developed in the nineties by anthropologist Karin Knorr Cetina in her book Epistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make Knowledge. Opposed to a monist vision of scientific activity (according to which, would exist a unique scientific method), Knorr Cetina defines the concept of epistemic cultures as a diversity of scientific activities according to different scientific fields, not only in methods and tools, but also in types of reasonings, ways to establish evidence, and relationships between theory and empiry. Knorr Cetina's work is seminal in questioning the so-called unity of science. == Knorr Cetina's anthropology == In practice, Knorr Cetina compares two contemporary important scientific fields: High energy physics and molecular biology. She worked as an anthropologist within two laboratories, along the line of the laboratory anthropology work by Latour and Woolgar. Her anthropological work is comparative and the two chosen scientific fields are highly mediaticized and easily distinguishable. Epistemic cultures as a philosophical concept has been perused by numerous philosophical, anthropological or historical studies of science. == Two distinct publication regimes == High energy physics and molecular biology are very different as scientific fields belonging to two different epistemic cultures. They


id: graphism-thesis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphism_thesis-0.md
category: reference
title: Graphism thesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphism_thesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:30.697342+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: graphism-thesis-20260505-0
summary:
In the sociology of science and science and technology studies (STS), the graphism thesis is a proposition advanced by Bruno Latour that visual inscriptions—especially graphs, diagrams, and other visual representations—are central to the practice and authority of science. First articulated in Latour's 1990 essay "Visualization and Cognition: Drawing Things Together", the thesis holds that the power of scientific disciplines is closely linked to their capacity to produce, circulate, and combine visual representations of data. The thesis has been empirically tested by a number of researchers, who have found strong correlations between the level of graph use in scientific publications and the perceived "hardness" of scientific disciplines. == Background == The graphism thesis emerged from Latour's broader theory of inscriptions in scientific practice, developed across several works including Laboratory Life (1979, with Steve Woolgar) and Science in Action (1987). In these works, Latour defined an inscription device as any apparatus or configuration that transforms a material substance into a visual display usable within a scientific text, such as a diagram, chart, photograph, map, equation, or table. Central to this framework is the concept of immutable mobiles (a key term in actor–network theory)—objects that can be transported across distances while retaining their


id: harem-effect-science-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harem_effect_(science)-0.md
category: reference
title: Harem effect (science)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harem_effect_(science)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:31.980840+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: harem-effect-science-20260505-0
summary:
In the sociology and history of science, the harem effect refers to a phenomenon whereby a male scientist, in a position of power, predominantly hires female subordinates for his research team. Positively, the "Harem Effect" provided female scientists with exceptional possibilities to pursue careers in their preferred professions. Additionally, it made a lot of scientific endeavours attainable from an economic standpoint. These ladies were the human computers of a period before computers. The downside was that female scientists were frequently refused acknowledgement for their findings and hindered by "busy work," sometimes known as "women's labour." The women at the "harem" received compensation less compared to their male colleagues, yet put in more hours than males despite the fact that this "women's profession" usually required accurate assessments, difficult mathematical calculations, and large amounts of data processing. Most importantly, it is sometimes forgotten that these female scientists' "women's labour" during the Victorian era led to remarkable advancements in a variety of subjects. == History == While there are numerous historical examples of this phenomenon and the practice may continue today, two examples stand out in the literature. Erwin Frink Smith, a USDA plant pathologist in the Bureau of Plant Industry, hired more


id: sociology-and-the-history-of-science-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology_and_the_history_of_science-0.md
category: reference
title: Sociology and the history of science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology_and_the_history_of_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:33.315055+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sociology-and-the-history-of-science-20260505-0
summary:
Throughout the 20th and 21st century, sociological inquiry has sought to analyze large-scale socialized patterns and trends in the development of science, as well as ask and answer questions about how science "works" both in a philosophical and practical sense. In particular, sociologists concerned with the history of science ask how societies construct narritives around scienticity, and how methodologies and paradigms throughout scientific history not only change, but change in context to culture, authority, political economy, and more sociologically strident means of analysis. == Science as a social enterprise == In the last few centuries, science as a social enterprise has grown rapidly. The few individuals who could conduct natural research in antiquity were either wealthy individuals themselves, had wealthy sponsors, or had the backing of a religious group. Today, scientific research has tremendous government support and also ongoing support from the private sector. Available methods of communication have improved tremendously over time. Instead of waiting months or years for a hand-copied letter to arrive, today scientific communication can be practically instantaneous. Earlier, most natural philosophers worked in relative isolation, due to the difficulty and slowness of communication. Still, there was a considerable amount of cross-fertilization between distant groups and


id: sociology-and-the-history-of-science-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology_and_the_history_of_science-1.md
category: reference
title: Sociology and the history of science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology_and_the_history_of_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:33.315055+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sociology-and-the-history-of-science-20260505-0
summary:
== Political support == One of the basic requirements for a scientific community is the existence and approval of a political sponsor; in England, the Royal Society operates under the aegis of the monarchy; in the US, the National Academy of Sciences was founded by Act of the United States Congress; etc. Otherwise, when the basic elements of knowledge were being formulated, the political rulers of the respective communities could choose to arbitrarily either support or disallow the nascent scientific communities. For example, Alhazen had to feign madness to avoid execution. The polymath Shen Kuo lost political support, and could not continue his studies until he came up with discoveries that showed his worth to the political rulers. The admiral Zheng He could not continue his voyages of exploration after the emperors withdrew their support. Another famous example was the suppression of the work of Galileo, by the twentieth century, Galileo would be pardoned. == Patterns in the history of science == One of the major occupations with those interested in the history of science is whether or not it displays certain patterns or trends, usually along the question of change between one or more scientific theories. Generally speaking, there


id: sociology-and-the-history-of-science-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology_and_the_history_of_science-2.md
category: reference
title: Sociology and the history of science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology_and_the_history_of_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:33.315055+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sociology-and-the-history-of-science-20260505-0
summary:
== The nature of scientific discovery == Individual ideas and accomplishments are among the most famous aspects of science, both internally and in larger society. Breakthrough figures like Sir Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein are often celebrated as geniuses and heroes of science. Popularizers of science, including the news media and scientific biographers, contribute to this phenomenon. But many scientific historians emphasize the collective aspects of scientific discovery, and de-emphasize the importance of the "Eureka!" moment. A detailed look at the history of science often reveals that the minds of great thinkers were primed with the results of previous efforts, and often arrive on the scene to find a crisis of one kind or another. For example, Einstein did not consider the physics of motion and gravitation in isolation. His major accomplishments solved a problem which had come to a head in the field only in recent years—empirical data showing that the speed of light was inexplicably constant, no matter the apparent speed of the observer. (See Michelson–Morley experiment.) Without this information, it is very unlikely that Einstein would have conceived of anything like relativity. The question of who should get credit for any given discovery is often a source


id: intersubjective-verifiability-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersubjective_verifiability-0.md
category: reference
title: Intersubjective verifiability
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersubjective_verifiability
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:34.524429+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: intersubjective-verifiability-20260505-0
summary:
Intersubjective verifiability is the capacity of a concept to be readily and accurately communicated between individuals ("intersubjectively"), and to be reproduced under varying circumstances for the purposes of verification. It is a core principle of empirical, scientific investigation. Although there are areas of belief that do not consistently employ intersubjective verifiability (e.g., many religious claims), intersubjective verifiability is a near-universal way of arbitrating truth claims used by people everywhere. In its basic form, it can be found in colloquial expressions, e.g., "I'm from Missouri. Show me!" or "Seeing is believing". The scientific principle of replication of findings by investigators other than those that first reported the phenomenon is simply a more highly structured form of the universal principle of intersubjective verifiability. == Subjective experience == Each individual is a subject, and must subjectively experience the physical world. Each subject has a different perspective and point of view on various aspects of the world. However, by sharing their comparable experiences intersubjectively, individuals may gain an increasingly similar understanding of the world. In this way, many different subjective experiences can come together to form intersubjective ones that are less likely to be prone to individual bias or gaps in knowledge. While specific


id: john-desmond-bernal-prize-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Desmond_Bernal_Prize-0.md
category: reference
title: John Desmond Bernal Prize
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Desmond_Bernal_Prize
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:35.744080+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: john-desmond-bernal-prize-20260505-0
summary:
The John Desmond Bernal Prize is an award given annually by the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) to scholars judged to have made a distinguished contribution to the interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). The award was launched in 1981, with the support of Eugene Garfield. The award is named after the scientist John Desmond Bernal. == Award recipients == Source: Society for Social Studies of Science Archived 2017-08-06 at the Wayback Machine == See also == List of social sciences awards == References == == External links == Society for Social Studies of Science


id: mathematical-sociology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_sociology-0.md
category: reference
title: Mathematical sociology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_sociology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:37.275238+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mathematical-sociology-20260505-0
summary:
Mathematical sociology is an interdisciplinary field of research concerned with the use of mathematics within sociological research. == History == Starting in the early 1940s, Nicolas Rashevsky, and subsequently in the late 1940s, Anatol Rapoport and others, developed a relational and probabilistic approach to the characterization of large social networks in which the nodes are persons and the links are acquaintanceship. During the late 1940s, formulas were derived that connected local parameters such as closure of contacts – if A is linked to both B and C, then there is a greater than chance probability that B and C are linked to each other – to the global network property of connectivity. Moreover, acquaintanceship is a positive tie, but what about negative ties such as animosity among persons? To tackle this problem, graph theory, which is the mathematical study of abstract representations of networks of points and lines, can be extended to include these two types of links and thereby to create models that represent both positive and negative sentiment relations, which are represented as signed graphs. A signed graph is called balanced if the product of the signs of all relations in every cycle (links in every graph cycle)


id: mathematical-sociology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_sociology-1.md
category: reference
title: Mathematical sociology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_sociology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:37.275238+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mathematical-sociology-20260505-0
summary:
== Further developments == In 1954, a critical expository analysis of Rashevsky's social behavior models was written by sociologist James S. Coleman. Rashevsky's models and as well as the model constructed by Simon raise a question: how can one connect such theoretical models to the data of sociology, which often take the form of surveys in which the results are expressed in the form of proportions of people believing or doing something. This suggests deriving the equations from assumptions about the chances of an individual changing state in a small interval of time, a procedure well known in the mathematics of stochastic processes. Coleman embodied this idea in his 1964 book Introduction to Mathematical Sociology, which showed how stochastic processes in social networks could be analyzed in such a way as to enable testing of the constructed model by comparison with the relevant data. The same idea can and has been applied to processes of change in social relations, an active research theme in the study of social networks, illustrated by an empirical study appearing in the journal Science. In other work, Coleman employed mathematical ideas drawn from economics, such as general equilibrium theory, to argue that general social theory


id: mathematical-sociology-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_sociology-2.md
category: reference
title: Mathematical sociology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_sociology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:37.275238+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mathematical-sociology-20260505-0
summary:
== Research programs == Many of the developments in mathematical sociology, including formal theory, have exhibited notable decades-long advances that began with path-setting contributions by leading mathematical sociologists and formal theorists. This provides another way of taking note of recent contributions but with an emphasis on continuity with early work through the use of the idea of “research program,” which is a coherent series of theoretical and empirical studies based on some fundamental principle or approach. There are more than a few of these programs and what follows is no more than a brief capsule description of leading exemplars of this idea in which there is an emphasis on the originating leadership in each program and its further development over decades. (1) Rational Choice Theory and James S. Coleman: After his 1964 pioneering Introduction to Mathematical Sociology, Coleman continued to make contributions to social theory and mathematical model building and his 1990 volume, Foundations of Social Theory was the major theoretical work of a career that spanned the period from 1950s to 1990s and included many other research-based contributions. The Foundation book combined accessible examples of how rational choice theory could function in the analysis of such sociological topics as


id: mathematical-sociology-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_sociology-3.md
category: reference
title: Mathematical sociology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_sociology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:37.275238+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mathematical-sociology-20260505-0
summary:
In the simplest models, each person in an interactive pair, is represented in terms of one side of a role relationship in which fundamental sentiments associated with each role guide the process of immediate interaction. A higher level of the control process can be activated in which the definition of the situation is transformed. This research program comprises several of the key chapters in a 2006 volume of contributions to control systems theory (in the sense of Powers 1975 ) in sociology. (8) "Distributive Justice Theory" and Guillermina Jasso: Since 1980, Jasso has treated problems of distributive justice with an original theory that uses mathematical methods. She has elaborated upon and applied this theory to a wide range of social phenomena. Her most general mathematical apparatus – with the theory of distributive justice as a special case—deals with any subjective comparison between some actual state and some reference level for it, e.g., a comparison of an actual reward with an expected reward. In her justice theory, she starts with a very simple premise, the justice evaluation function (the natural logarithm of the ratio of actual to just reward) and then derives numerous empirically testable implications. (9) Collaborative research and John


id: mathematical-sociology-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_sociology-4.md
category: reference
title: Mathematical sociology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_sociology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:37.275238+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mathematical-sociology-20260505-0
summary:
== Awards in mathematical sociology == The Mathematical Sociology section of The American Sociological Association in 2002 initiated awards for contributions to the field, including The James S. Coleman Distinguished Career Achievement Award. (Coleman had died in 1995 before the section had been established.) Given every other year, the awardees include some of those just listed in terms of their career-long research programs: 2022: Guillermina Jasso, New York University 2020: Noah Friedkin, University of California, Santa Barbara 2018: Ronald Breiger, University of Arizona 2017: Lynn Smith-Lovin, Duke University. 2014: Philip Bonacich, University of California, Los Angeles. 2012: John Skvoretz, University of South Florida. 2010: David R. Heise, Indiana University. 2008: Scott Boorman, Yale University. 2006: Linton Freeman, University of California, Irvine. 2004: Thomas Fararo, University of Pittsburgh. 2002: Harrison White, Columbia University. The section's other categories of awards and their recipients are listed at ASA Section on Mathematical Sociology == Texts and journals == Mathematical sociology textbooks cover a variety of models, usually explaining the required mathematical background before discussing important work in the literature (Fararo 1973, Leik and Meeker 1975, Bonacich and Lu 2012). An earlier text by Otomar Bartos (1967) is still of relevance. Of wider scope and


id: merton-thesis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merton_thesis-0.md
category: reference
title: Merton thesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merton_thesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:38.481296+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: merton-thesis-20260505-0
summary:
The Merton thesis is an argument about the nature of early experimental science proposed by Robert K. Merton. Similar to Max Weber's famous claim on the link between Protestant work ethic and the capitalist economy, Merton argued for a similar positive correlation between the rise of Protestant Pietism and early experimental science. The Merton thesis has resulted in continuous debates. Although scholars are still debating it, Merton's 1936 doctoral dissertation (and two years later his first monograph by the same title) Science, Technology and Society in 17th-Century England raised important issues on the connections between religion and the rise of modern science, became a significant work in the realm of the sociology of science and continues to be cited in new scholarship. Merton further developed this thesis in other publications. == Thesis == The Merton thesis has two separate parts: firstly, it presents a theory that science changes due to an accumulation of observations and improvement in experimental technique and methodology; secondly, it puts forward the argument that the popularity of science in England in the 17th century, and the religious demography of the Royal Society (English scientists of that time were predominantly Puritans or other Protestants) can be explained


id: mihi-itch-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihi_itch-0.md
category: reference
title: Mihi itch
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihi_itch
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:39.711234+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mihi-itch-20260505-0
summary:
Mihi itch or Mihisucht is the ambition to describe new species (or other taxa: subspecies, hybrids, genera, etc.) as a means to immortalize one's name. Mihi is the dative form of the Latin word ego, thus "mihi itch" means to satisfy one's egotistical impulses. The expression appeared in print as early as 1884. A consequence of the Mihi itch may be the unwarranted description of new taxa, differing only slightly from already established taxa, leading to taxonomic inflation. A more extreme case may be termed taxonomic vandalism when a large number of species are described with limited scientific evidence. == Examples == La "nouvelle école" in malacology, led by Jules René Bourguignat, was responsible for the description of hundreds of new species of molluscs in Europe at the end of the nineteen century. Harold St. John published 440 names in the genus Pandanus, which encompasses c. 600 accepted species, and 283 names in the genus Cyrtandra, which encompasses c. 700 accepted species. Between 2000 and 2011, Raymond Hoser published 582 species names, and 340 generic names of animals (mostly reptiles). == See also == Taxonomic vandalism Taxonomic inflation == References ==


id: no-innovation-without-representation-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_innovation_without_representation-0.md
category: reference
title: No innovation without representation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_innovation_without_representation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T04:35:40.844025+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: no-innovation-without-representation-20260505-0
summary:
No innovation without representation is a democratic ideal of ensuring that everyone involved gets a chance to be represented fairly in technological developments. Political philosopher of technology Langdon Winner states that groups and social interests likely to be affected by a particular kind of technological change ought to be represented at an early stage in defining exactly what that technology will be. It is the idea that relevant parties have a say in technological developments and are not left in the dark. It has been spoken about by political scientist Massimiano Bucchi. This ideal does not require the public to become experts on the topics of science and engineering, it only asks that the opinions and ideas be heard before making drastic decisions, as talked about by Steven L. Goldman. == Arguments for no innovation without representation == Arguments for no innovation without representation stated by Carl Mitcham: Experts cannot escape public influence. There will always be influence from corporations or outside sources. "Technoscientific decision making is never neutral or objective." Public participation will have a more beneficial long-term effect than no participation. "Without public participation nothing will get done" Experts promote their own self-interest at the expense of the


