Esteem in the sciences made visible: How bibliometry receives new impulse from social network analysis

The article intends to show how a way of combining methods of social network analysis with methods of classical bibliometry meaningfully may be applied within historical studies. Going beyond bibliometry the argument is supported that a set of driving forces which build relationships among scientific actors via scientific activities might be subsumed in the pluri-dimensional term ‘esteem’ (Anerkennung) which should be distinguished from pure reputation. The method of a historical reconstruction of scientific networks seems to be especially useful for representing esteem within the sciences and implementing it as a sort of “currency system“ or social capital in the sense of Pierre Bourdieu. The concept of network serves as an abstract model in this context. The history of eugenics is uses as an example for data collection, data processing, data visualization and data interpretation. Three textbooks (including translations) are selected for analysis, the German Erwin Baur, Eugen Fischer, Fritz Lenz, Grundriß der menschlichen Erblichkeitslehre und Rassenhygiene (1st ed. 1921); the US-American Charles Davenport, Heredity in Relation to Eugenics; and the Swedish Gunnar Dahlberg, Arv och Ras. The proposed approach shows not only differentiated picture of the structure of the reception of these works but also the shift of interest from a variety of fields of medical research to the history of sciences.The article intends to show how a way of combining methods of social network analysis with methods of classical bibliometry meaningfully may be applied within historical studies. Going beyond bibliometry the argument is supported that a set of driving forces which build relationships among scientific actors via scientific activities might be subsumed in the pluri-dimensional term ‘esteem’ (Anerkennung) which should be distinguished from pure reputation. The method of a historical reconstruction of scientific networks seems to be especially useful for representing esteem within the sciences and implementing it as a sort of “currency system“ or social capital in the sense of Pierre Bourdieu. The concept of network serves as an abstract model in this context. The history of eugenics is uses as an example for data collection, data processing, data visualization and data interpretation. Three textbooks (including translations) are selected for analysis, the German Erwin Baur, Eugen Fischer, Fritz Lenz, Grundriß der menschlichen Erblichkeitslehre und Rassenhygiene (1st ed. 1921); the US-American Charles Davenport, Heredity in Relation to Eugenics; and the Swedish Gunnar Dahlberg, Arv och Ras. The proposed approach shows not only differentiated picture of the structure of the reception of these works but also the shift of interest from a variety of fields of medical research to the history of sciences

Lateral and vertical transfer in biology, linguistics and anthropology - An account of widely neglected ideas in the formation of evolutionary theories

Models of biological and cultural evolution that developed from the 19th century onward are characterized by two main features:(1)They were mostly centered on the unilinear transmission of cultural and biological replicators (among others, languages), and (2) They were centered on phylogenetic images of descent, that means, specifically, the tree of life and the tree of languages metaphors. The purpose of this paper is to show that theories of unilinear descent in biology, linguistics and anthropology represent just one among several approaches in explain evolutionary development in all three realms. ‘Antidotes’ to the pedigree and tree of life metaphors have been presented as early as phylogenetic models, but have been often neglected, surpressed or simply been ignored. We try to draw attention to these alternative models of lateral and vertical transfer of words, genes, and culture traits which form an indispensable part of an all-encompassing evolutionary epistemiology

Study of deaths by suicide of homosexual prisoners in Nazi Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Living conditions in Nazi concentration camps were harsh and inhumane, leading many prisoners to commit suicide. Sachsenhausen (Oranienburg, Germany) was a concentration camp that operated from 1936 to 1945. More than 200,000 people were detained there under Nazi rule. This study analyzes deaths classified as suicides by inmates in this camp, classified as homosexuals, both according to the surviving Nazi files. This collective was especially repressed by the Nazi authorities. Data was collected from the archives of Sachsenhausen Memorial and the International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen. Original death certificates and autopsy reports were reviewed. Until the end of World War II, there are 14 death certificates which state "suicide" as cause of death of prisoners classified as homosexuals, all of them men aged between 23 and 59 years and of various religions and social strata. Based on a population of 1,200 prisoners classified as homosexuals, this allows us to calculate a suicide rate of 1,167/100,000 (over the period of eight years) for this population, a rate 10 times higher than for global inmates (111/100,000). However, our study has several limitations: not all suicides are registered; some murders were covered-up as suicides; most documents were lost during the war or destroyed by the Nazis when leaving the camps and not much data is available from other camps to compare. We conclude that committing suicides in Sachsenhausen was a common practice, although accurate data may be impossible to obtain

Data on suicide cases committed prisoners classified as homosexuals in Sachsenhausen camp.

<p>Data on suicide cases committed prisoners classified as homosexuals in Sachsenhausen camp.</p