Bruno Latour & Steve Woolgar - Laboratory Life ... - Pedro P. Ferreira

sources, including discussions with Bell (Woolgar, 1976a). Sociologists of differentpersuasions and research styles would undoubtedly view this episode in a variety of differentways. Those primarily interested in norms, for example, might enquire how thecommunication of news of this finding was handled in the light of prevailing competitivepressures. To what extent did scientists live up to, or evade, norms of universality? Such anapproach would leave intact the activity involved in Bell's perception. A more sophisticatedapproach might enquire as to the social circumstances prevalent at the time. What were theconstraints in terms of availability of equipment which made Bell's observation appearremarkable? What were the characteristics of the organisation of radio astronomy at that stageof its development that gave Bell's observation a special significance? This approach wouldbe more sophisticated in the sense that factors such as the organisation of research atCambridge and participants' experience of past disputes would be examined for theirinfluence on the observation and its subsequent interpretation. Given a different state ofaffairs, it could be argued, the observation would have been interpreted differently or mightnot have occurred at all.In this particular example, it might be argued that if scrutiny of the recording had beenautomated or if Bell had been sufficiently socialised into realising that the persistentrecurrence of scruff was impossible and hence nonnoticeable, the discovery of pulsars wouldhave been much longer in coming. Technical events, such as Bell's observations, are thusmuch more than mere psychological operations; the very act of perception is constituted byprevalent social forces. Our interest, however, would be in the details of the observationprocess. In particular, we should like to know the method by which Bell made sense of aseries of figures such that she could produce the account: "There was a recurrence of a bit ofscruff." The processes which inform the initial perception can be dealt with psychologically.However, our interest would be with the use of socially available procedures for constructingan ordered account out of the apparent chaos of available perceptions.The Construction of OrderOur interest in the way in which scientific order is constructed out of chaos arises from twomain considerations. Firstly, from the fact that there are always available a number ofalternative sociological((34))features which might be invoked to explain the occurrence of a particular scientific action.Because any alternative can in principle be undermined or faulted, it may be preferable tochange the focus so as to examine the way in which features are invoked so as to produceorder. Secondly, outside observers appear to be in a position essentially similar to scientists in