The Professional Ethos of Mathematicians

The Professional Ethos of Mathematicians

This analysis of the professional ethos of mathematicians, which runs counter to the relativist position of social constructivism, is situated in relation to the contributions and limitations of various sociological approaches to mathematics as a specific scientific practice. It becomes clear that,...

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Autor principal: Zarca, Bernard
Format: Article ou chapitre numérique
Idioma:Français
Publicat: 2012
Accés en línia:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
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spelling cairn-RFS_525_0153RFS1Revue française de sociologie https://shs.cairn.info/revue-francaise-de-sociologie-1-2011-5-page-153?lang=en https://doi.org/10.3917/rfs.525.0153 The Professional Ethos of Mathematicians Zarca, Bernard2012 fre Revue française de sociologie | 52 | 5 | 2012-01-10 | p. 153-186 | 0035-2969 RFS_52573 This analysis of the professional ethos of mathematicians, which runs counter to the relativist position of social constructivism, is situated in relation to the contributions and limitations of various sociological approaches to mathematics as a specific scientific practice. It becomes clear that, while the mathematical ethos is dependent to some degree on other factors, it is differentiated—more along esthetic and social dimensions than the epistemic one—by where agents position themselves relative to the “pure” and “applied” mathematics pole of the partially institutionalized opposition between the two in France. Strong elitism is a salient feature of the ethos. The analysis is based primarily on material collected in 2002-2003 via an extensive internet survey of mathematicians and scientists in related sciences (mechanical scientists, theoretical physicists, computer scientists and didacticians of mathematics), all working either in French universities or public research laboratories. The mathematician respondent sample is representative of the target population.Cairn free access
language Français
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
1/Bibliothèque numérique/Cairn/
description This analysis of the professional ethos of mathematicians, which runs counter to the relativist position of social constructivism, is situated in relation to the contributions and limitations of various sociological approaches to mathematics as a specific scientific practice. It becomes clear that, while the mathematical ethos is dependent to some degree on other factors, it is differentiated—more along esthetic and social dimensions than the epistemic one—by where agents position themselves relative to the “pure” and “applied” mathematics pole of the partially institutionalized opposition between the two in France. Strong elitism is a salient feature of the ethos. The analysis is based primarily on material collected in 2002-2003 via an extensive internet survey of mathematicians and scientists in related sciences (mechanical scientists, theoretical physicists, computer scientists and didacticians of mathematics), all working either in French universities or public research laboratories. The mathematician respondent sample is representative of the target population.
author Zarca, Bernard
spellingShingle Zarca, Bernard
The Professional Ethos of Mathematicians
author_facet Zarca, Bernard
author_sort Zarca, Bernard
title The Professional Ethos of Mathematicians
title_short The Professional Ethos of Mathematicians
title_full The Professional Ethos of Mathematicians
title_fullStr The Professional Ethos of Mathematicians
title_full_unstemmed The Professional Ethos of Mathematicians
title_sort professional ethos of mathematicians
publishDate 2012
container_title
container_issue
url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://shs.cairn.info/revue-francaise-de-sociologie-1-2011-5-page-153?lang=en
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.3917/rfs.525.0153
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