Sociology of scientific knowledge

The Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK) is a 'school' of loosely allied thinkers including Gaston Bachelard, Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, Bruno Latour and David Bloor. These thinkers (mainly sociologists or philosophers) consider social influences on science to be as important, or more important, than the rational or empirical factors normally considered to be paramount in deciding whether a theory is true or not.

The SSK breaks down into two 'schools' or programmes/programs (either spelling is used). The weak program merely considers sociological factors to be important in scientific practice. The strong program considers sociological factors to be the deciding ones. The strong program is particularly associated with the work of David Bloor and his colleagues at the University of Edinburgh.

The SSK became very controversial in the 1990s with the publication of a hoax paper by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont in the journal Social Text. The ensuing debate (the Sokal affair) led to many SSK thinkers being accused of relativism.