Science under Siege | Contesting the Secular Religion of Scientism

Dick Houtman (u. a.)

ISBN 10: 3030696510 / ISBN 13: 9783030696511

Published by Springer Nature Switzerland, 2022

About this Item

Science under Siege | Contesting the Secular Religion of Scientism | Dick Houtman (u. a.) | Taschenbuch | Cultural Sociology | xvi | Englisch | 2022 | Springer Nature Switzerland | EAN 9783030696511 | Verantwortliche Person für die EU: Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg, juergen[dot]hartmann[at]springer[dot]com | Anbieter: preigu.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Science under Siege | Contesting the Secular Religion of Scientism
• Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3030696510
• ISBN 13: 9783030696511
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 210W x 148H x 15D millimeters 210 millimeters width by 148 millimeters height by 15 millimeters depth
• Weight: 341 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • Bücher

About this title

Synopsis

Identifying scientism as religion’s secular counterpart, this collection studies contemporary contestations of the authority of science. These controversies suggest that what we are witnessing today is not an increase in the authority of science at the cost of religion, but a dual decline in the authorities of religion and science alike. This entails an erosion of the legitimacy of universally binding truth claims, be they religiously or scientifically informed. Approaching the issue from a cultural-sociological perspective and building on theories from the sociology of religion, the volume unearths the cultural mechanisms that account for the headwind faced by contemporary science. The empirical contributions highlight how the field of academic science has lost much of its former authority vis-à-vis competing social realms; how political and religious worldviews define particular research findings as favorites while dismissing others; and how much of today’s distrust of science is directed against scientific institutions and academic scientists rather than against science per se.

About the Author

Dick Houtman is Senior Professor of Sociology of Culture and Religion at the Center for Sociological Research at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and Faculty Fellow at the Center for Cultural Sociology, Yale University, USA.

Stef Aupers is Senior Professor of Media Culture at the Institute for Media Studies at the University of Leuven, Belgium.

Rudi Laermans is Senior Professor of Social Theory at the Center for Sociological Research at the University of Leuven, Belgium.