Concise Discussion On The Social Stratification In Science

As in ordinary society, there is clearly social stratification in science. In the community of science, some scientists are in the top of the stratification system, but more people are unknown to public. The study of stratification in science is one of it's important issues since the naissance of the sociology of science. In the Merton school's opinion, science should very close to universalism. The basic reason of social stratification in science is that scientists have different functional performance, that is to say, the only standard of social stratification in science is the quality of scientists' achievement. Other factors (the sex, the race, the religion, and so on) don't have any effect. But in the opinion of SSK, the scientific knowledge is constructed socially. There are various social factors and subjective factors which play crucial role in the course of scientific knowledge come into being.We will discuss some theoretical questions referring to the stratification in science from the angle that how the stratification in science come into being in history and how scientists obtain their scientific status? When we discuss these questions, we attempt to stand in a relatively objective standpoint and on the basis of the Merton school and SSK's theories. The goal of this article is to find out some effective measures for the advancement of science.Firstly, I shall discuss the appearance, phenomena and characteristics of the social stratification in science historically and the inevitability of the social stratification in science. Secondly, I shall try to create a system of the standard about the social stratification in science which is similar to the "Research Programmes" in Imre Lakatos' theory. This is one of the creative points in this article. Thirdly, I shall discuss several problems about evaluation and reward in science, such as the consistency in science, peer's evaluation, outsiders' evaluation, the relation between scientific achievements and reward. Finally, I shall discuss the mobility between different classes in science.This study of social stratification in science would make us know more about the phenomena and reason of the deviation from universalism. It will provide guidance to scientific administration and constituting scientific policies, and then make the social stratification in science function orderly and the science develop harmoniously.