Sociology of Modern Cosmology

López Corredoira, Martín (2008) Sociology of Modern Cosmology.

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Abstract

Certain results of observational cosmology cast critical doubt on the foundations of standard cosmology but leave most cosmologists untroubled. Alternative cosmological models that differ from the Big Bang have been published and defended by heterodox scientists; however, most cosmologists do not heed these. This may be because standard theory is correct and all other ideas and criticisms are incorrect, but it is also to a great extent due to sociological phenomena such as the "snowball effect" or "groupthink". We might wonder whether cosmology, the study of the Universe as a whole, is a science like other branches of physics or just a dominant ideology.

Keywords:cosmology
sociology
Subjects:General Issues: Science and Society
Specific Sciences: Sociology
Specific Sciences: Physics: Cosmology
ID Code:4369
Deposited By:López Corredoira, Martín
Deposited On:08 December 2008
Additional Information:invited talk, submitted for the proceedings of the conference "Cosmology across Cultures" (held at Granada, Spain, on 2008, September 8th to 12th), J. A. Belmonte, F. Prada, J. A. Rubino Martin, & A. Alberdi, Eds., ASP, S. Francisco