Public sciences, public enemies. Boundary work and cultural hegemony in public controversies between evolutionists and feminists

Abstract

Social conflicts are often discussed in the form of public scientific controversies in knowledge societies. This paper analyzes several public controversies tackling issues of gender inequalities between evolutionists (evolutionary psychologists and evolutionary psychologically oriented journalists) and feminists (feminist scientists and journalists) in US media between the early 1980s and the early 2000s. The inquiry focuses on rhetorical strategies of “boundary work” participants used to make their point and strengthen their public authority on the issues discussed. By practicing boundary work, scientists distance themselves from ideology. It is suggested that Antonio Gramsci's works on hegemony and the intellectuals allows to think about intellectual's roles in ideological struggles in a different way: the public scientific controversies analyzed occurred at a time when “traditional” gender and family models had lost their hegemonic role and gender relations were rather thoroughly rearranged. They can thus be understood as part of a larger social struggle for cultural hegemony on issues of gender and sexuality.