The Mangle of Practice

Pickering, Andrew

ISBN 10: 0226668037 / ISBN 13: 9780226668031

Published by University of Chicago Press, 1995

This text offers an understanding of the nature of scientific, mathematical and engineering practice, and the production of scientific knowledge. The author presents an approach to the unpredictable nature of change in science, taking into account a number of factors. Num Pages: 296 pages, 11 halftones, 11 line drawings. BIC Classification: PDA; PDR; TBDG. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational; (UP) Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly; (UU) Undergraduate. Dimension: 230 x 157 x 16. Weight in Grams: 420. . 1995. 1st Edition. Paperback. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780226668031

Synopsis:

This ambitious book by one of the most original and provocative thinkers in science studies offers a sophisticated new understanding of the nature of scientific, mathematical, and engineering practice and the production of scientific knowledge.

Andrew Pickering offers a new approach to the unpredictable nature of change in science, taking into account the extraordinary number of factors—social, technological, conceptual, and natural—that interact to affect the creation of scientific knowledge. In his view, machines, instruments, facts, theories, conceptual and mathematical structures, disciplined practices, and human beings are in constantly shifting relationships with one another—"mangled" together in unforeseeable ways that are shaped by the contingencies of culture, time, and place.

Situating material as well as human agency in their larger cultural context, Pickering uses case studies to show how this picture of the open, changeable nature of science advances a richer understanding of scientific work both past and present. Pickering examines in detail the building of the bubble chamber in particle physics, the search for the quark, the construction of the quarternion system in mathematics, and the introduction of computer-controlled machine tools in industry. He uses these examples to address the most basic elements of scientific practice—the development of experimental apparatus, the production of facts, the development of theory, and the interrelation of machines and social organization.

About the Author: Andrew Pickering is a sociologist and historian of science at Exeter University. He has written extensively on the sociology of science. He is currently working on a book on the social history of cybernetics.

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Mangle of Practice
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication Date: 1995
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: New
Edition: 1st Edition