Shwed, U; Bearman, PS. 2010. The Temporal Structure of Scientific Consensus Formation. AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW 75 (6): 817-840

[Eugene Garfield]

Shwed, U; Bearman, PS. 2010. The Temporal Structure of Scientific Consensus 
Formation. AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW 75 (6): 817-840..

Author Full Name(s): Shwed, Uri; Bearman, Peter S.
Language: English
Document Type: Article

Author Keywords: sociology of science; consensus; black boxing; network 
analysis; citations
KeyWords Plus: TOBACCO INDUSTRY; PUBLIC-HEALTH; SCIENCE; NETWORKS; 
SOCIOLOGY; KNOWLEDGE; POLICY; AREAS; FIELD; RISK

Abstract: This article engages with problems that are usually opaque: What 
trajectories do scientific debates assume, when does a scientific community 
consider a proposition to be a fact, and how can we know that? We develop a 
strategy for evaluating the state of scientific contestation on issues. The 
analysis builds from Latour's black box imagery, which we observe in scientific 
citation networks. We show that as consensus forms, the importance of 
internal divisions to the overall network structure declines. We consider 
substantive cases that are now considered facts, such as the carcinogenicity 
of smoking and the non-carcinogenicity of coffee. We then employ the same 
analysis to currently contested cases: the suspected carcinogenicity of cellular 
phones, and the relationship between vaccines and autism. Extracting meaning 
from the internal structure of scientific knowledge carves a niche for renewed 
sociological commentary on science, revealing a typology of trajectories that 
scientific propositions may experience en route to consensus.

Addresses: [Shwed, Uri] Ben Gurion Univ Negev, Dept Sociol & Anthropol, IL-
84105 Beer Sheva, Israel; [Bearman, Peter S.] Columbia Univ, New York, NY 
10027 USA
Reprint Address: Shwed, U, Ben Gurion Univ Negev, Dept Sociol & Anthropol, 
POB 653, IL-84105 Beer Sheva, Israel.

E-mail Address: shwed at bgu.ac.il
ISSN: 0003-1224
DOI: 10.1177/0003122410388488
URL: http://asr.sagepub.com/content/75/6/817.abstract?rss=1