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A subfield of the sociology of knowledge that examines how epistemic standards, practices, and institutions are socially produced and maintained. It asks: how do communities decide what counts as knowledge? Why do some knowledge claims gain authority while others are dismissed? How do power relations shape epistemic hierarchies? The sociology of epistemology draws on work from Thomas Kuhn, Michel Foucault, and contemporary science studies to show that epistemology is not a purely philosophical discipline but a social one—grounded in institutions, practices, and power. It is the empirical study of how we know what we claim to know.
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