Abstract
The methodological and conceptual advances referred to below are based on a particular research tradition. In order to understand its implications, it is necessary to recall its main aspects. The sociology of knowledge was developed in a characteristic context, first as philosophical reflection on the conditions of human thinking and reasoning, and later evolving into a specific sociological perspective on the social conditions of knowledge production and dissemination. The social character of thinking has been observed: from Bacon to Marx, many theorists have been concerned to emphasize problems of ideology and to criticize the distorting effects that social influences have upon individual thinking. Conversely, thinking and knowledge production depend fundamentally on their social genesis.
