Cautionary Notes on Navigating the Neurocognitive Turn

Abstract

The approach sociologists should take toward the biological sciences, particularly in light of the neurocognitive turn that is taking place in many other disciplines, is not as straightforward as some have suggested. Advocates of bridging neurocognitive and sociological frameworks have argued that we should learn and utilize neurocognitive science in order to refresh sociological concepts, as well as to contribute positively to the development of bio/psycho/social knowledge. However, I argue that the onto-epistemological question of how we should approach neuroscientific knowledge, which has yet to be resolved, should be foregrounded rather than forgotten in these efforts. Without a willingness to criticize as well as learn from neurocognitive science, and wade into its internal debates, sociologists risk reifying neurocognitive knowledge and diminishing awareness and appreciation of its complexities and contradictions.

Ontology and Method in Cognitive Sociology

“…In any event I think Lizardo () is on target in his depiction of us as an overgrown roundtable and a “loosely bound invisible college of people with heterogeneous interests in the cognitive science/sociology connection.” That's what we are, and that's a good thing. (Others see the field somewhat differently; see, e.g., Cerulo ; Danna ; Pitts‐Taylor ; Shepherd ). We are continuing a long‐standing sociological tradition of borrowing concepts from cognitive science (models, schemas, scripts), and before that from psychoanalysis, and repurposing those concepts for use in social research.…”

Continuing the Story: Maximizing the Intersections of Cognitive Science and Sociology

“…Pitts‐Taylor () rightly warns that such connections must be carefully forged. She argues that such engagement could, in some instances, “reifying neurocognitive knowledge and diminishing awareness and appreciation of its complexities and contradictions” (2014:995).…”

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“…Articles all answer the question: What Should a Sociology of Culture and Cognition Look Like? See Cerulo ; Danna ; Ignatow ; Lizardo ; Pitts‐Taylor .…”