A Sociological Theory of Scientific Change

In current science studies, there are only few systematic efforts at explaining how different scientific specialties change over time. Such specialties are viewed here as organizations in which workers deal with various degrees of task uncertainty and mutual dependence. The sociological theory of change suggests that scientific change is generally triggered by competition, but that various types of change depend on the social organization and status of scientific groups. Some fields change through permanent discoveries, some through specialization and cumulation, yet others change through cognitive fragmentation. This argument can synthesize the various independent branches of contemporary science studies. The proposed theory has wider significance for some core problems in sociology, such as the relationship between the natural and social sciences, the prospects for a science of society, and the possibility of cumulative progress.