Recalling the basic work of Harry Collins on replication in the 1970s and 1980s, and on Pierre Bourdieu on the struggle for authority in the scientific field, we will survey the general social constraints that contribute to explain the lack of interest in replicating previous science, as a direct effect of Robert K. Merton’s model of the scientific community. Despite the recent upsurge of discourse on the topic of replication within the scientific community, it does not seem that they are ready to take the steps necessary to solve that problem which is an effect of the structural constraints that affect the present dynamic of scientific research. I will also link these discourses to those concerning the «Slow science movement».
Rotman 2018 Annual Conference: Understanding Replication Across the Sciences October 12, 2018