This Article Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (4) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Gieryn, T. F. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

City as Truth-Spot

Laboratories and Field-Sites in Urban Studies

Indiana University, gieryn{at}indiana.edu

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.

Key Words: credibility • field-site • laboratory • place • sites of science • urban studies

Social Studies of Science, Vol. 36, No. 1, 5-38 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0306312705054526


CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Gross Collaborative experiments: Jane Addams, Hull House and experimental social work Social Science Information, March 1, 2009; 48(1): 81 - 95. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. Simpson and T. M. Kelly The New Chicago School of Urbanism and the New Daley Machine Urban Affairs Review, November 1, 2008; 44(2): 218 - 238. [Abstract] [PDF]

				E. Davenport Social informatics and sociotechnical research -- a view from the UK Journal of Information Science, August 1, 2008; 34(4): 519 - 530. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. Vertesi Mind the Gap: The London Underground Map and Users' Representations of Urban Space Social Studies of Science, February 1, 2008; 38(1): 7 - 33. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. N. Livingstone Science, site and speech: scientific knowledge and the spaces of rhetoric History of the Human Sciences, May 1, 2007; 20(2): 71 - 98. [Abstract] [PDF]

				T. Monahan Electronic Fortification in Phoenix: Surveillance Technologies and Social Regulation in Residential Communities Urban Affairs Review, November 1, 2006; 42(2): 169 - 192. [Abstract] [PDF]