Island Time

Theory Groups and the Social Production of Scientific Knowledge

John N. Parker (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

250 Seiten

2026
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-1-009-22248-8 (ISBN)

Noch nicht erschienen (ca. März 2026)
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Examining how small groups of scientists create new scientific theories, launch intellectual movements, and compete for attention, this book is designed for scholars, policy makers, and university leaders seeking to understand the social processes by which research groups develop new scientific theories that transform scientific understanding.

Theory groups are small research groups who develop a new scientific theory and work together to promote its acceptance by the scientific community. This book offers a pioneering analysis of theory groups by reconceptualizing them as socio-emotional collectives characterized by evocative group cultures and emergent small group processes that enable their members to conceptualize new theories and champion new intellectual movements that cut against the status quo in their fields. Utilising data from a fifteen-year, multi-sited ethnography of a theory group in sustainability science, it investigates the significance of faith, solidarity, fun, and flow episodes for developing transformative science. Chapters also explore the importance inter-generational group dynamics for advancing new theories, and of specific geographic locations such as remote islands for fostering creativity. This gripping first-hand account is an essential read for those wishing to understand the conditions that support transformative scientific creativity and the social dynamics of intellectual movements.

John N. Parker is professor of sociology at University of Oslo. He has published in American Sociological Review, Sociological Theory, Sociological Methods and Research, and other journals. He directed the US National Science Foundation's Science and Technology Studies program and consults on how to organize scientific teams for creativity.

1. Introduction; 2. Case study and methods; 3. Hot spots and hot moments; 4. The good times are killing me; 5. The rays and the grays; 6. Conflict in public places; 7. Theoretical drift; Collapse; Transformation; Conclusion; References.

Erscheint lt. Verlag	31.3.2026
Zusatzinfo	Worked examples or Exercises
Verlagsort	Cambridge
Sprache	englisch
Gewicht	500 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Sozialpsychologie
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Verhaltenstherapie
ISBN-10	1-009-22248-1 / 1009222481
ISBN-13	978-1-009-22248-8 / 9781009222488
Zustand	Neuware