In this fascinating book, Massimiano Bucchi provides a much needed introduction to a rapidly growing subject area. This text brings theory alive and will be essential reading for all students of the sociology of science.

Introduction 1. The Development of Modern Science and the Birth of the Sociology of Science 1.1. From Little Science to Big Science 1.2. The Rise of the Sociology of Science 1.3. The 'Matthew Effect' and the '41st Chair': Competition and inequality in science 2. Paradigms and Styles of Thought: A 'social window' on science? 2.1. A Plant that Divides Botanists 2.2. Science and Revolutions 2.3. Why is the Cassowary not a Bird? 3. Is Mathematics Socially Shaped? The 'strong programme' 3.1. The Planet that could be seen only from France 3.2. Is Mathematics Socially Shaped? 3.3. The Weaknesses of the Strong Programme 4. Inside The Laboratory 4.1. Experimental Demonstration of the Tomatotropic Organization in the Soprano 4.2. Inside the Controversy 4.3. Science as a Two-Faced Janus: The actor-network approach 5. Stirrups, Watches and Bycicles: The sociology of technology 5.1. The Importance of a Stirrup 5.2. The Watchmaker that Surprised Astronomers 5.3. A Mysterious Cyclist 5.4. Beyond Innovation: What really happened in Baghdad's sky? 6. Science Wars 6.1. Hoaxes and Experiments 6.2. Have we never been Sociologists of Science? 6.3. What Sociology of Science? 7. Communicating Science 7.1. The Traditional Conception of Public Communication of Science 7.2. A Scientifically Illiterate Public? 7.3. The Role of Scientists 7.4. Public Communication of Science as the Continuation of Scientific Debate by Other Means 7.5. Can Knowledge Be Transferred? 7.6. From Deficit to Dialogue, From Dialogue to Participation - and Next? 8. A New Science? 8.1. From the Laboratory to the Stock Exchange 8.2. The Dilemmas of Intellectual Property, Between Patents and Open Access 8.3. From Physics to Biology 8.4. A Mediatised Science 8.5. A Global and 'Open' Science? 8.6. Can We Still Call it 'Scientific Community'? 8.7. Science 2.0 in a Society 2.0?