Collins, Harry M. 1943-

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COLLINS, Harry M. 1943-

PERSONAL:

Born 1943.

ADDRESSES:

Office—School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Ave., Cardiff CF10 3WT, Wales. Agent—c/o University of Chicago Press, 1427 East Sixtieth St., Chicago, IL 60637. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer and sociologist. Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, professor of sociology, director of Centre for the Study of Knowledge, Expertise, and Science (KES).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Book of the Year, Emory and Henry College, 1994-95, for The Golem: What Everyone Should Know about Science; Robert K. Merton Book Prize, American Sociological Association, 1995, for The Golem; J. D. Bernal Award, Society for Social Studies of Science, 1997, for contributions to the social studies of science.

WRITINGS:

(With Trevor J. Pinch) Frames of Meaning: The Social Construction of Extraordinary Science, Routledge and Kegan Paul (Boston, MA), 1982.

(Editor) Sociology of Scientific Knowledge: A Source Book, Bath University Press (Bath, England), 1982.

Changing Order: Replication and Induction in Scientific Practice, Sage Publications (Beverly Hills, CA), 1985.

Artificial Experts: Social Knowledge and Intelligent Machines, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 1990.

(With Trevor J. Pinch) The Golem: What Everyone Should Know about Science, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1993.

(With Trevor J. Pinch) The Golem at Large: What You Should Know about Technology, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Martin Kusch) The Shape of Actions: What Humans and Machines Can Do, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 1998.

(Editor, with Jay A. Labinger) The One Culture?: A Conversation about Science, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2001.

Author of numerous book chapters and articles for scholarly journals, including American Sociological Review and American Journal of Sociology.

SIDELIGHTS:

Known for his work in the sociology of science, Harry M. Collins has been a participant in the "science wars," a dispute between scientists and the sociologists who, like Collins, have chosen to study the process by which scientists reach their conclusions. He is regarded by many as one of the most radical critics of natural science and scientific expertise. On the other hand, he is also a defender of science and the difficulties it faces in coming up with answers and "proofs." Collins has written several books about the process of scientific investigations and the validity of research findings, including The Golem: What Everyone Should Know about Science.

The term "science wars" arose when many prominent scientists attacked work done by sociologists, philosophers, and others who focused their studies on the "process" of science in terms of social analysis. Collins, who teaches at Cardiff University in Wales, embraces the notion of social construction of science. In other words, he favors the idea that in many cases scientists do less discovering about what is in nature than imposing their own conventional ideas on it. According to Stephan Fuchs, writing in Sociological Inquiry, Collins and others believe "that science does not differ in kind from other social practices and does not enjoy any special cognitive or methodological privileges. Scientific knowledge is socially constructed. Science is but one social and cultural form of life amongst others and does not provide the rest of our culture with rational and transcendental foundations."

On the Cardiff University Web site, Collins said that some of his work has been drawn into the "science wars" debate and sometimes attacked with gusto. "The reason for these less temperate attacks seems to be the, accurate, perception that books such as The Golem make science seem less infallible," wrote Collins. "But it seems to me that science endangers itself by promising too much. Science and technology … are evidently fallible and its continual failures are always on display. To promise revelation is to risk disillusion and an anti-science reaction."

In his 1985 book Changing Order: Replication and Induction in Scientific Practice, Collins examines the validity of the experimental method through case studies surrounding a controversy over gravity wave detection experiments and examples of replication experiments concerning paranormal effects. In the book, Collins maintains, "It can never be clear whether a second experiment has been done sufficiently well to count as a check on the results of the first. Some further test is needed to test the quality of the experiment—and so forth." Calling the book "required reading for historians of science concerned with developments in the sociology of scientific knowledge," John A. Schuster, writing in Isis, noted that "Harry Collins is one of the genuine innovators of the sociology of scientific knowledge, and so it is most welcome to see a large part of his earlier work gathered together, partially revised and largely reorganized, in the present volume."

Collins is also the coauthor with Trevor J. Pinch of two books that use the analogy of the golem to describe science. A Jewish mythological creature, the golem is a magical giant that grows and has the potential to both help people and be innocently dangerous because of its clumsiness. In the first book, The Golem, the authors focus on the controversial nature of the scientific method. Since science is practiced by human beings, they suggest, it is fallible and marked at times by ambition and corruption. As a result, science is not always the last word on a subject in terms of the "facts" it produces, since much depends on data collection processes and the often-subjective interpretation of data. "On the whole, this work provides informative insights into the workings of science," wrote J. Singh in Science Books & Films. In Contemporary Sociology, Michael Lynch felt that "having read the book's clear, simple descriptions of seven episodes of scientific controversy, I must admit that I enjoyed it very much and recommend it highly."

In The Golem at Large: What You Should Know about Technology, Collins and Pinch turn their attention to issues surrounding technology. They discuss what "expertise" really is and how good or successful a technology actually is compared to what is advertised, as in their example of the accuracy of the "Patriot" missiles used in the first Gulf War between the United States and Iraq. Other case studies include the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the explosion of a U.S. space shuttle in the 1980s. Writing in Nature, Barry Barnes commended the book as being the "clearest and simplest" explanation available concerning "'what you should know about technology.'" He acknowledged that Collins and his coauthor are "widely regarded as among the most radical critics of natural science and scientific expertise," but added that he views the book as "a powerful defense of experts and expertise."

In 2001, Collins coedited a book with Jay A. Labinger that incorporates both sides of the "science wars" debate. In The One Culture?: A Conversation about Science, the editors present a series of essays and responses concerning science and the sociological study of science. Written mostly by physicists and sociologists, the writings focus on various core issues involving scientific claims and their reliability, integrity, and authority. Writing in Nature, John Ziman called the book "muddled, muddling," and full of "rambling conversation." Jan Golinski noted in American Scientist that the book "would be a dull one if there were not still some significant disagreements" that are discussed. However, Peter D. Smith, writing in Times Literary Supplement, said, "The book offers a fascinating insight into the arguments on both sides." In New Scientist, Robert Matthews praised the idea that the "two sides are moving towards more constructive exchanges." He thought that "the time has come for scientists and non-scientists alike to adopt a more sophisticated approach to the scientific process. Reading this book is the place to start."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Scientist, January-February, 2002, Jan Golinski, review of The One Culture?: A Conversation about Science, pp. 72-74.

British Journal for the History of Science, December, 1991, Geoffrey Tweedale, review of Artificial Experts: Social Knowledge and Intelligent Machines, pp. 481-82.

Choice, June, 1999, M. Wooddell, review of The Golem at Large: What You Should Know about Technology, p. 1808; January, 2002, P. D. Skiff, review of The One Culture?, p. 900.

Contemporary Sociology, January, 1995, Michael Lynch, review of The Golem: What Everyone Should Know about Science, pp. 114-15; May, 2000, Patrik Aspers, review of The Shape of Actions: What Humans and Machines Can Do, pp. 563-64.

Isis, September, 1989, John A. Schuster, review of Changing Order: Replication and Induction in Scientific Practice, pp. 493-96.

Library Journal, June 1, 1991, Thom Gillespie, review of Artificial Experts, p. 182.

Nature, November 5, 1998, Barry Barnes, review of The Golem at Large, pp. 39-40; April 8, 1999, Bruce Mazlish, review of The Shape of Actions, pp. 478-79; September 27, 2001, John Ziman, review of The One Culture?, pp. 359-60.

New Scientist, October 6, 2001, Robert Matthews, review of The One Culture?, p. 50.

Science, February 11, 1994, Ullica Segerstrale, review of The Golem, pp. 837-38.

Science Books & Films, December, 1993, J. Singh, review of The Golem, p. 268.

Sociological Inquiry, Winter, 1992, Stephan Fuchs, review of Artificial Experts, pp. 119-21.

Sociological Review, May, 1999, Tiago Moreira, review of The Golem at Large, pp. 381-83.

Times Literary Supplement, July 26, 2002, Peter D. Smith, review of The One Culture?, p. 33.