How does the structure of the audience influence the way scientists choose to articulate their claims?
Conceptual Retention in Epistemic Communities: Examining the Role of Social Structure
Drew Margolin & Peter Monge
This paper proposes a theoretical mechanism by which the social structure of an epistemic
community will influence the conceptual choices that members of the community make when
investigating and communicating novel knowledge claims. It is argued that in structurally
cohesive communities members have an incentive to rely on well-established, broadly recognized
concepts, while in more fractured communities there are greater incentives for individuals to use
more idiosyncratic constructions. The mechanism is tested on data collected from two topics in
the study of physics: d-branes and supermassive black holes. Results indicate some support for the
argument that communities with greater global cohesion, as measured by a low degree of local
social clustering, tend to draw more heavily on concepts that are already established in the
community.