Scientific Controversies and Boundary Disputes: the Intelligent Design Movement Network
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Scientific Controversies and Boundary Disputes: The Intelligent Design Movement Network by Jared Scott Coopersmith B.A., University of Pittsburgh, 2003 M.A., University of Pittsburgh, 2005 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2012 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences This dissertation was presented by Jared Coopersmith It was defended on January 17, 2012 and approved by Thomas Fararo, Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Sociology Akiko Hashimoto, Associate Professor, Sociology Charles Jones, Lecturer, Geology and Planetary Science John Marx, Professor Emeritus, Sociology Dissertation Advisor: Patrick Doreian, Professor Emeritus, Sociology ii Copyright © by Jared Coopersmith 2012 iii Scientific Controversies and Boundary Disputes: The Intelligent Design Movement Network Jared Coopersmith, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 2012 Although anti-evolutionism has existed for well over a century, recent evolutionary critics have used non-theistic arguments to attempt to show that Darwinian evolution could not have produced some examples of biological complexity. Called “intelligent design” (ID) theory this movement claims to present genuine scientific facts that prove the inability of evolution to produce most biological structures, thus necessitating the infusion of ‘intelligently-designed’ structure or information into biological life. Despite claims of scientific legitimacy by the ID movement, evolutionary scientists, professional scientific associations, and scientific proponents have widely dismissed ID arguments as non-scientific reasoning dressed up in the terminology of science. Using Gieryn’s theory of boundary-work together with Frickel and Gross’ theory of scientific/intellectual movements (SIM), I examined the institutional relationship, if any, between science and the ID movement, using the inter-organizational network of ties between ID organizations and organizations representing other fields. I used several network theoretic measures to examine the extent of ties between the ID, creation science, and science fields. I found very sparse connections between ID and science, indicating strong institutional boundary- work by scientists. While there was some overlap between ID and creation science, I found considerable evidence that these two movements have distinct intellectual cultures. My findings suggest that, regardless of their origins, the intelligent design and creation science movements are two independent organizational communities. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ X PREFACE....................................................................................................................................XI 1.0 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................ 1 2.0 CREATIONISM AND THE INTELLIGENT DESIGN MOVEMENT......................... 7 2.1 EARLY CREATIONISM........................................................................................... 8 2.2 CREATION SCIENCE............................................................................................. 10 2.3 NEOCREATIONISM ............................................................................................... 13 3.0 SCIENTIFIC CONTROVERSIES AND BOUNDARY-WORK .................................. 24 3.1 BOUNDARY-WORK FROM THE SCIENTIFIC ESTABLISHMENT............. 35 3.2 BOUNDARY-WORK FROM THE ID MOVEMENT.......................................... 38 3.3 BOUNDARY-WORK IN THIS STUDY................................................................. 45 4.0 SCIENTIFIC/INTELLECTUAL MOVEMENTS.......................................................... 47 5.0 RESEARCH QUESTIONS............................................................................................... 65 6.0 DATA COLLECTION ...................................................................................................... 69 6.1 STAGE 1: WEBSITE CITATION LISTS .............................................................. 69 6.2 STAGE 2: INDIVIDUALS RECOGNIZED BY ORGANIZATIONS................. 79 7.0 THE INTELLIGENT DESIGN INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL NETWORK............. 88 7.1 MAINSTREAM SCIENCE SUBNETWORK........................................................ 96 v 7.2 PRO-SCIENCE SUBNETWORK ........................................................................... 98 7.3 SCIENCE-RELIGION SUBNETWORK ............................................................. 101 7.4 BIOETHICS SUBNETWORK............................................................................... 103 7.5 PSEUDO-SCIENCE SUBNETWORK.................................................................. 105 7.6 INTELLIGENT DESIGN/CREATION SCIENCE SUBNETWORK ............... 107 8.0 CENTRALITY ANALYSIS............................................................................................ 114 8.1 DEGREE CENTRALITY....................................................................................... 116 8.2 CLOSENESS CENTRALITY................................................................................ 123 8.3 BETWEENNESS CENTRALITY ......................................................................... 128 8.4 CENTRALITY CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION ......................................... 135 8.4.1 Boundary-work and centrality ................................................................... 143 9.0 ORGANIZATIONS WITH NO INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL CONNECTIONS .. 146 10.0 CUT VERTEX AND M-SLICE ANALYSIS .............................................................. 151 10.1 CUT-VERTICES................................................................................................... 151 10.2 M-SLICE ANALYSIS........................................................................................... 158 10.3 CUT-VERTEX AND M-SLICE CONCLUSION............................................... 169 11.0 ERGM ANALYSIS........................................................................................................ 170 11.1 ERGM CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION ..................................................... 183 12.0 CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION ........................................................................... 188 12.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION ............................................... 194 13.0 EPILOGUE .................................................................................................................... 200 APPENDIX A............................................................................................................................ 202 APPENDIX B ............................................................................................................................ 205 vi APPENDIX C............................................................................................................................ 253 APPENDIX D............................................................................................................................ 260 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................................... 264 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Inter-organizational network organizations by organizational field categories.............. 93 Table 2. Connected organizations with zero betweenness centrality ......................................... 133 Table 3. Intelligent design and creation science organizations' centrality scores....................... 142 Table 4. Organizations with no inter-organizational linkages.................................................... 146 Table 5. Inter-organizational Network Cut Vertices................................................................... 153 Table 6. Inter-organizational network m-slices .......................................................................... 160 Table 7. Inter-organizational network organizations by organizational categories used in ERGM analysis........................................................................................................................................ 172 Table 8. Inter-organizational network ERGM model 18............................................................ 178 Table 9. Intelligent design and creation science subnetworks ERGM analysis ......................... 186 Table 10: Inter-organizational network degree centrality........................................................... 253 Table 11: Inter-organizational network closeness centrality ...................................................... 256 Table 12: Inter-organizational network betweenness centrality ................................................. 258 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Website Citation Collection Steps................................................................................. 76 Figure 2. Inter-organizational Network ........................................................................................ 89 Figure 3. Mainstream science subnetwork.................................................................................... 97 Figure 4. Pro-science subnetwork............................................................................................... 100 Figure 5. Science-Religion subnetwork.....................................................................................