Science and technology as social institutions: from merton’s ethos of science to neoinstitutionalism

Abstract

Current social studies of science and technology have identified the emergence of a new institutional turn in science and technology. This shift is characterized by the transformation of science and technology, understood as social institutions, i.e. the emergence of new practices and new organizational forms involved in the production of scientific and technological knowledge. In this paper we analyze the problems that link classical institutional approach of science to the neo-institutional approach, emphasizing on those aspects that give rise to agreements and disagreements between the two approaches.