Strong Program, Sociology of

The Strong Program in the sociology of knowledge is a set of methodological requirements about the proper way in which social scientists and historians should analyze and explain knowledge, including scientific knowledge. Such investigations should be causal, impartial, symmetrical, and reflexive. The article explains and illustrates these requirements. The basis of the argument in their favor is that these requirements are expressive of a truly scientific orientation in which knowledge is treated as a natural phenomenon. The article ends with a brief introduction to some case studies from the history of science that show the Strong Program in action.