The Effect of the Social Context of Scientific Work on the Methods and Findings of Science

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The Effect of the Social Context of Scientific Work on the Methods and Findings of Science

The world society is in a constant state of fluidity regarding

everything from social customs and slang to technology and

inventions. With even more abundance, scientific understanding and

questioning evolve as time progresses. As the human race changes and

grows, scientific knowledge of the world and universe must expand to

accommodate the growth. To a large extent, the social situations

surrounding the scientific work affect the specific sciences that are

investigated.

Historically, the use of science to explain natural phenomenon has

existed for many centuries. Ancient establishments such as Stonehenge

and Mayan temples demonstrate that these otherwise underdeveloped

cultures had accurately grasped such scientific concepts as astronomy

and its effect on the sun, weather, and the tides. Just as this

science was a necessity for the Mayans, for example, to regulate crops

based on the measured passage of time, more modernizing societies have

an inevitable demand for modernizing scientific acquisitions.

Scientific explorations result from the desire or requirement to

explain certain unknowns. Scientists recognized or studied today are

those that were once able to elucidate scientific mysteries, such as

Pavlov’s illumination of behavioral response or Mendel’s simple

explanation of genetic inheritance. In these situations, the outcome

of the investigation had significant social implications. People later

recognized the importance of such findings, and pressed for more

information. This resulted in the continuation, even to present-day,...

... middle of paper ...

...n research would or wouldn’t have

been done without the social context that surrounded it. For

example, if Mendel had not originally investigated genetics or Pavlov

had not defined stimulus-response behaviors, there is no way to

confirm that these studies would have not been more or less culturally

significant if they had been performed in other cultural settings.

In the end, it is most reasonable to assert that social climate and

context directly influences what scientific unknowns are

investigated. This is best demonstrated by such crucial and

recognized scientific breakthroughs as space exploration and the

atomic bomb, both of which directly resulted from societal pressure

gain such scientific knowledge. Clearly, the progression and

situation of society goes hand in hand with that of the scientific

world.

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