Karin Knorr-Cetina
| Karin Knorr Cetina | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 19, 1944 Graz, Austria |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Alma mater | University of Vienna, (Cultural Anthropology, minor in Sociology), Ph.D., 1971; Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, Post-doctoral Diploma (Sociology), 1972; University of Bielefeld, Habilitation (Sociology), 1981 |
| Occupation | Sociologist, professor |
| Employer | Universität Konstanz, University of Chicago |
| Known for | Work on epistemology and social constructionism |
| Notable work | The Manufacture of Knowledge: An Essay on the Constructivist and Contextual Nature of Science (1981) and Epistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make Knowledge (1999) |
| Awards | Ford Fellow, Institute for the Study of Social Change, University of California, Berkeley |
Karin Knorr Cetina (also Karin Knorr-Cetina) (born 19 July 1944 in Graz, Austria) is an Austrian sociologist well known for her work on epistemology and social constructionism, summarized in the books The Manufacture of Knowledge: An Essay on the Constructivist and Contextual Nature of Science (1981) and Epistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make Knowledge (1999). Currently, she focuses on the study of global microstructures and Social studies of finance. Knorr Cetina is professor of the Theory of Sociology at the Universität Konstanz and guest professor at the University of Chicago.
A knowledge object is a theoretical concept introduced by Knorr Cetina to describe the emergence of post-social relations in epistemic cultures. Knowledge objects are different from everyday things and are defined as unfolding structures that are non-identical with themselves; Jyri Engeström based the concept of social objects on this concept.
Knorr-Cetina studied at the University of Vienna, receiving a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology (with a minor in sociology) in 1971. Her dissertation research focused on the structural analysis of oral literature. She shifted her focus toward sociology as she found that cultural anthropology at the time was too focused on historical concerns, while she was more interested in contemporary social phenomena. Following the completion of her doctorate, Knorr-Cetina went to the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Vienna, where many influential sociologists were invited to give presentations. This resulted in a Post-doctoral diploma in sociology, and an appointment as an instructor in anthropology at the University of Vienna from 1972–73, and then in sociology from 1973-76. During this time, Knorr-Cetina engaged in her first empirical investigations of science leading the 1975 publication (with Hermann Strasser and Hans Georg Zilian) Determinants and Controls of Scientific Development. It was also during these years that she first encountered the work of the ethnomethodologically-inclined sociologist Aaron Cicourel, specifically "Method and measurement in sociology."
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