Indian Scientists: The Socio-cultural and Organizational Context of their Professional Environment by Surajit Sinha (original) (raw)

Invitation to Sociology of Science: Agenda for Science Studies in India

Sociological Bulletin, 1989

In the contemporary Indian society, modern science and technology, and their institutional structures, are becoming increasingly important. There is heavy investment in these areas; as a consequence, power relations in the society are getting restructured and relationships in every domain of social life are being influenced. Under these circumstances, it is surprising that sociological studies of science, scientists and scientific institutions remain relatively neglected areas of enquiry. In India, by and l arge, there is a continuous reproduction of the unequal relationship between natural sciences, on the one hand, and social sciences and humanities, on the other. Modern science is considered to be 'superior' and meant for the brighter students. This, at least partly, explains the avoidance of science as a subject of study on the part of sociologists in India. On the other hand, the popular image of science as 'objective knowledge' makes scientific practice an affair of the scientists only. As Yehuda Elkana points out, comparative studies of art, religion, ethics, and politics abound; however, there is no discipline called comparative science (1981: 2). I Certain questions are now beginning to be posed in the intellectual community which should force sociologists in India to seriously take up the study of modern science and technology seriously in the immediate future. The problem starts with a critical evaluation of the path of development and modernization on which the nation has embarked. Broadly speaking, three views have emerged in post-independence India. According to the first view, modern science and technology have been completely appropriated SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN, 38 (2), September 1989

Science for Society: Formative Years of Some Science Organizations in Independent India -A Preliminary Probe

Journal of People's History and Culture, Volume 6 Number 2, 2020

The basic meaning of science is 'special knowledge'. The specialty of this particular knowledge is to understand everything by reasoning and through accurate observation. Movement means to organized protests to achieve a goal. After independence, several science organizations were formed in India, whose main aim was to popularize science, to develop scientific temper, and to promote science and technology to improve the living standard of all people. Along with that, some organizations feel that the state is not able to priorities the needs of the common people and they try to determine the priority of the people. They even play the role of pressure groups to the government so that it implements its science policy for the society. These science organizations had played a significant role in the expansion of science consciousness among the people.

Towards a Real Scientific Society in India

Since antiquity, a ‘scientific society’ has been an arduous quest among human civilisations. Western societies, through their gradual evolution, have made ‘scientific enquiry’ inextricably linked with their socio-economic and political domains of life. They have reached to such a scientific intellect, political prudence and social maturity that they have done away with all apartheid and feel blessed and balm in electing a ‘black’ twice as their President. But in India, once famed as one of the Oriental countries, real scientific society still remains a chimera. In spite of being an integral part of the Constitution, ‘scientific temper’ and ‘spirit of inquiry and reform’ have been relegated to the lowest ebb in socio-political arena of the country. Plato’s conviction about the importance of Mathematics in Politics is often replicated in terms of burgeoning infiltration of muscle power, caste scourges and communal vote bank in politics. Mathematics calls for aptitude building among political incumbents and is very much beyond counting of votes, caste-politics and communal calculations. Science is the only way that ensures a true political democracy. On the score of distributive democracy, high economic growth can only be sustained by adopting ‘scientific methods’ of production. This was proved to be an axiom by Frederick Winslow Taylor and many others. Lack of rationality in gender-based remuneration, feudalistic traditions of production, unequal distribution of resources and dire indigence in Indian populace are some of the manifestations of non-scientism in Indian society. Scientific principles of objectivity, rationality, systemic harmony remain confined only to the textbooks, research papers, journals etc. They occupy only ‘mental stratum’ and do not percolate in to the ‘social stratum’. This paper is an attempt to establish essentiality of Natural Sciences in politics, economy and society of India so as to make this decade (2010-2020) a ‘real decade of innovation’ as enunciated by the Government of India.

25 Years of Public Understanding of Science in India: Analysis based on cultural distance

2018

About 30 years ago the idea of cultural distance between peoples structure of thought and the science was proposed. Over the years it crystallised. This article presents major findings of the surveys that were conducted in India, spanned over twenty-five years. It is argued that cultural distance varies depending upon the nature of scientific information. Mapping cultural distances of specific scientific information for distinct target groups could help planners and communicators of science in devising effectual intervention strategies. Plans for dissemination of information that has low magnitude of cultural distance, need to be radically different in nature vis a vis approaches required for popularising scientific ideas that tend to cluster at the farthest end of the scale. In developing countries, the formal system of modern education operates as a strong determinant in shaping the cultural structure of thought prevalent among the citizens. It influences the worldview of even tho...

Practising Western Science Outside the West: Personal Observations on the Indian Scene

Social Studies of Science

Modern science, which was an indigenous product of Western culture, is now being practised in many non-Western countries. This paper discusses the peculiar social, cultural and intellectual problems which scientists of these non-Western countries face in adopting Western science in their situations, with special reference to India. It is pointed out that, in addition to money and communication, it is necessary to have a proper psychological gestalt to practise science satisfactorily. The author analyzes his experience as a physics student in India and in the United States to clarify the nature of this psychological gestalt, and to explain what makes it difficult for non-Western scientists to acquire it.

Images of Knowledge, Social Organization, and Attitudes to Research in an Indian Physics Department

Science in Context, 1988

Sociologists of “Third World” science, who share the dominant assumption in the philosophy of science that the “culture” of specific substantive fields of scientific inquiry is invariant across the globe, have, after a period of blind optimism devoted to building a critical mass of scientists in the developing countries, relapsed into a bleaker mood and see the Third World as a peripheral region lacking in “creativity” in its research programs. Challenging the doctrine of the universality of scientific practice by means of an in situ study of an Indian physics laboratory, an attempt is made to bring to light a particular community's shared ideals of knowledge (provided by the specific historico-cultural Indian context) which animate the everyday practice of its field of study and fashion its choice of problems, style of professional communication, attitudes toward experiment, etc. These local ingredients should not be understood as deficiencies with respect to some arbitrary norm (mostly taken as the practice in the particular field of inquiry in the “developed” world) but as what differentiates research practices in different parts of the world.

Rise and decline of modern science in India

In retrospect, it would perhaps have been better for India if Raman had missed the Stockholm bus. The freak individual honour raised false hopes and has made a clear-headed analysis of Indian science difficult if not impossible.