SCIENCE–RELIGION BOUNDARIES IN INDIAN SCIENTIFIC WORKPLACES
Abstract
Recent social scientific studies have focused on the different ways in which scientists conceive of the relationship between science and religion, conflict, complementary, independent, or some other understanding. However, there is still much less research on scientists’ religious lives outside the United States and the United Kingdom. Drawing on data from participant observation, in-depth interviews (N = 80) and nationally representative surveys (N = 1,763) with physicists and biologists in India, we begin to address this gap. We find that even though the majority of scientists report the independence view through our survey, when interviewed they say that religion and scientific work overlap considerably and in distinctive ways from the United States and the United Kingdom. Specifically, Indian scientific institutions (1) seek religious authorization, (2) offer religious accommodation to staff and students, and (3) facilitate selective integration of religion into the workplace. Our article shows how, in spite of scientists’ espoused preferences for non-overlapping magisteria and attempts to construct boundaries between religion and science, religion overlaps with science in scientific workplaces.
Publication Title
Zygon
Recommended Citation
Khalsa, S., Kalinowski, B., Vaidyanathan, B., & Ecklund, E. (2021). SCIENCE–RELIGION BOUNDARIES IN INDIAN SCIENTIFIC WORKPLACES. Zygon https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12760
