Obliteration by incorporation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In sociology of science, obliteration by incorporation (OBI) occurs when at some stage in the development of a science, certain ideas become so accepted that their contributors are no longer cited. Eventually, its source and creator are forgotten as the concept enters common knowledge.
Contents |
[edit] The concept
The concept was introduced by Robert K. Merton, although some incorrectly attribute it to Eugene Garfield, whose work contributed to the popularization of Merton's theory. Merton introduced the concept of "obliteration by incorporation" in his landmark work, Social Theory and Social Structure in 1949 (although the revised edition of 1968 is usually cited). Merton also introduced the less known counterpart to this concept, adumbrationism, meaning the attribution of insights, ideas or analogies absent from original works.[1]
In the process of "obliteration by incorporation", both the original idea and the literal formulations of it are forgotten due to prolonged and widespread use, and enter into everyday language (or at least the everyday language of a given academic discipline), no longer being linked to their originator.[2] Thus they become similar to common knowledge. Merton notes that this process is much more common in highly codified fields of natural sciences than in social sciences.[3] It can also lead to ignoring or hiding the early sources of recent ideas under the claims of novelty and originality.[1] Allan Chapman notes that 'obliteraton by incorporation' often affects famous individuals, to whom attribution becomes considered as obvious and unnecessary, thus leading to their exclusion from citations, even if they and their ideas have been mentioned in the text. Marianne Ferber and Eugene Garfield concur with Chapman, noting that obliteration often occurs when the citation count and reputation of an affected scientist have already reached levels much higher than average.[4]
[edit] List of concepts "obliterated by incorporation"
Many terms and phrases were so evocative that they quickly suffered the fate of 'obliteration by incorporation'. Examples include:
- double helix structure of DNA, introduced by James D. Watson and Francis Crick [1]
- periodic table of elements, introduced by Dmitri Mendeleev[2]
- premature discovery introduced by Gunther Stent[3]
- self-fulfilling prophecy, introduced by Robert K. Merton
- role model, introduced by Robert K. Merton
[edit] Quotes
- "the sources of an idea, finding or concept, become obliterated by incorporation in canonical knowledge, so that only a few are still aware of their parentage" Robert K. Merton, quoted by Sztompka, 2003
[edit] See also
- fact construction
- law of eponymy: Chicago historian of statistics Stephen M. Stigler has written about a "law of eponymy" whereby "no scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." Example: Gaussian distribution was not discovered by Gauss.
[edit] References
- Inline
- ^ a b Piotr Sztompka, Society in Action: The Theory of Social Becoming, University of Chicago Press, 1991, ISBN 0-226-78815-6 Google Print, p.7
- ^ Piotr Sztompka, Robert K. Merton, in Blackwell Companion to Major Contemporary Social Theorists, George Ritzer (ed.), Blackwell Publishing, 2003, ISBN 1-4051-0595-X Google Print, p.19, p.27-28
- ^ David J. Hess, Science Studies: An Advanced Introduction, NYU Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8147-3564-9, Google Print, p.77
- ^ Ellen G. Cohn, Richard A. Wright, David P. Farrington, Evaluating Criminology and Criminal Justice, Greenwood Press, 1998, ISBN 0-313-30153-0] Google Print, p.8
- General
- Robert K. Merton, On Social Structure and Science, University of Chicago Press, 1996, ISBN 0-226-52071-4, Google Print, p.30
[edit] Further reading
- Garfield, E. The Obliteration Phenomenon. Current Contents No. 51/52: 5-7,(22 Dec. 1975)
- Messeri P., Obliteration by incorporation: Toward a Problematics, Theory and Metric of the Use of Scientific Literature. Unpublished manuscript. Columbia University, 1978.
