From Value to Valuation

Pragmatist and Hermeneutic Orientations for Assessing Science on the International Space Station

Bibliographic Data

ID9601050
AuthorsPaola Castaño (0000-0002-0093-1206, Cardiff University, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume52
Issue4
Pages671-701
Publication date2021-12-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe American Sociologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-1232 • E-ISSN: 1936-4784
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s12108-021-09515-y
PMID34744173
OpenAlexW3209706782
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited62

Based on a study of the International Space Station (ISS), this paper argues that – as a set of orientations for sociological inquiry – pragmatism and hermeneutics are confluent frameworks to examine valuation as a social process. This confluence is grounded on their common attunement to valuing as a problematic and relational process, their equally common updates with theories of institutions, and a further conceptual development regarding the temporalities of valuation. I advance the argument in four steps. First, looking at how the question about the “scientific value” of the ISS is far from settled, I show how valuation is always about something considered problematic and indeterminate. Second, characterizing the ISS at the intersection of different criteria of assessment, I stress the nature of valuation as a fundamentally perspectival and interpretive process, and show how a hermeneutic approach can complement some of the limitations of pragmatism in this regard. Third, I look at the question of institutions considering how some modes of assessment sediment more successfully than others. Fourth, I argue that, while providing insights towards it, pragmatist and hermeneutic approaches to valuation have not fully grasped its temporal nature as a process, and outline ways to open this line of inquiry. I conclude with some ideas for studies in sociology of science to re-entangle detailed case studies of scientific practice with the study of how institutions make claims of worth about the nature of science, I propose ways to extend these arguments to other studies of what I call iridescent institutions , and I make some considerations about our stance as sociologists in these valuation disputes

Economics · Epistemology · Hermeneutics · Pragmatism · Sociology · Valuation (finance · Philosophy · Polar Research and Ecology · Space exploration and regulation · Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life

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