Scientific conferences, socialization, and the Covid-19 pandemic: A conceptual and empirical enquiry.
Soc Stud Sci
; 53(3): 379-401, 2023 06.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2194910
ABSTRACT
Since the 1970s social analysts have seen communication between scientists not solely as information exchange (the algorithmical model), but as a process of socialization into overlapping and mutually embedded scientific domains (the enculturational model). Under the algorithmical model, the impact of the Covid-19 shutdown on travel would be easily remedied by replacing face-to-face communication with online platforms. Conferences and similar gatherings are costly, elitist, and environmentally damaging, but under the enculturational model abandoning them could be disastrous for science, which depends on the development of cross-national trust and mutual agreements through face-to-face interaction and, in turn, disastrous for science's role in democracy. We explore the problem theoretically and empirically, arguing against recent proposals from some scientists for the wholesale and permanent replacement of conferences with remote communication.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Soc Stud Sci
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
03063127221138521
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