City as Truth-Spot: Laboratories and Field-Sites in Urban Studies

@article{citeulike:1230028, abstract = {How does place' contribute to the credibility of scientific claims? The Chicago School of urban studies (1918-32) had close ties to the city for which it was named: its social scientists lived in Chicago, were affiliated with the University of Chicago, and made Chicago the object of almost all of their empirical research. In order for this city to become a legitimate source of claims about urban form and process, Chicago is textually made to oscillate between two available authorizing spaces. As a field-site, the city of Chicago becomes a found and uncorrupted reality, the singularly ideal place to do urban research, and requiring the analyst to get up-close and personal. As a laboratory, Chicago becomes a controlled environment where artificial specimens yield generalities true anywhere, requiring of the analyst distance and objectivity. The distinctive epistemic virtues of both field and laboratory are preserved as complementary sources of credibility, and Chicago becomes the right place for the job. 10.1177/0306312705054526}, author = {Gieryn, Thomas F. }, citeulike-article-id = {1230028}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0306312705054526}, journal = {Social Studies of Science}, keywords = {field, historical, place, sts, urban}, month = {February}, number = {1}, pages = {5--38}, posted-at = {2008-07-22 16:45:47}, priority = {2}, title = {City as Truth-Spot: Laboratories and Field-Sites in Urban Studies}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0306312705054526}, volume = {36}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1230028 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1230028 TI - City as Truth-Spot: Laboratories and Field-Sites in Urban Studies JF - Social Studies of Science VL - 36 IS - 1 SP - 5 EP - 38 N2 - How does place' contribute to the credibility of scientific claims? The Chicago School of urban studies (1918-32) had close ties to the city for which it was named: its social scientists lived in Chicago, were affiliated with the University of Chicago, and made Chicago the object of almost all of their empirical research. In order for this city to become a legitimate source of claims about urban form and process, Chicago is textually made to oscillate between two available authorizing spaces. As a field-site, the city of Chicago becomes a found and uncorrupted reality, the singularly ideal place to do urban research, and requiring the analyst to get up-close and personal. As a laboratory, Chicago becomes a controlled environment where artificial specimens yield generalities true anywhere, requiring of the analyst distance and objectivity. The distinctive epistemic virtues of both field and laboratory are preserved as complementary sources of credibility, and Chicago becomes the right place for the job. 10.1177/0306312705054526 KW - field KW - historical KW - place KW - sts KW - urban AU - Gieryn, Thomas PY - 2006/02/01/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0306312705054526 ER -