20124101

WiSe 21/22: Social Inscriptions in Science

Tanja Kubes

Comments

While we like to think of natural sciences as objective and reality-based, much of what scientists do in their research is heavily biased by unconscious assumptions about the world and the role of science and scientists. Ignoring those social inscriptions in scientific practice and priority setting not only wastes time and money, it reinforces existing inequalities and injustices and may, in the worst case, even cost human lives. Automobile crash tests or marketing authorisation procedures for medicinal products for example often are heavily biased towards normal weight, medium size male users, resulting in products that in some cases proved dangerous or even deadly for users not meeting the physical norm of the test subjects.

The seminar addresses gender as one critical (and easily detectable) factor in scientific research and writing and will identify elements in the scientific discourse that reproduce traditional biases and prejudices. Discussing recent case studies on “gendered innovations”, we shall take a closer look at the latent role of gender, sex, and intersectionality for the development of scientific knowledge and “truth” and develop a reflexive awareness of our role as scientists.