Concepts · Across science and technology
Boundary-work
Source-checked draft · v0.2 · 2026-09-24
Prepared with AI assistance; no scholarly reviewer assigned.
Gieryn uses boundary-work for attributions that distinguish science from other activities in pursuit of professional authority, resources, or autonomy.
Source: Gieryn, Thomas F · pp. 781–782 and 791–792
Supporting passage (paraphrased): Analyzes attribution of characteristics to science and the professional purposes of demarcation.
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The core idea
Rather than finding one timeless boundary, Gieryn examines how people describe science in contrast to other activities in particular settings.
Source: Gieryn, Thomas F · pp. 781–782 and 791–792
Supporting passage (paraphrased): Analyzes attribution of characteristics to science and the professional purposes of demarcation.
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Professional purposes
Gieryn distinguishes expansion of expertise, exclusion of rivals, and protection of autonomy. The attributes assigned to science vary with these purposes and contexts.
Source: Gieryn, Thomas F · pp. 791–792, conclusion
Supporting passage (paraphrased): Lists expansion, monopolization, and protection of autonomy; describes boundaries as variable and disputed.
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Method and interpretation
Gieryn analyzes ideological descriptions of science as rhetorical work. His conclusion treats scientific boundaries as historically changing and sometimes internally inconsistent.
Source: Gieryn, Thomas F · pp. 791–793, conclusion
Supporting passage (paraphrased): Connects professional ideology and the variable attribution of characteristics to science.
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Editorial distinction
Analyzing the use of a boundary is different from assessing the evidence for an individual scientific claim.
Invented illustration
Illustrative example
A funding panel labels one proposal scientific and another advocacy. The imagined scenario separates the language of demarcation from its consequences for access to funding.
Start reading
Gieryn, Thomas F. “Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists.” American Sociological Review 48(6), 1983, 781–795.pp. 781–782 and 791–793
Read the framing and conclusion, then return to the historical cases supporting the analysis.
Edition & revision record
- v0.2 · 2026-09-24: Added claim citations, source locations, reading levels, and explicit editorial labels; removed exercises.
Suggested citation: “boundary work,” STS Knowledge Guide, AI-assisted draft, v0.2, 2026-09-24.
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