This essay argues that recent reflexively oriented critiques of social studies of science, especially those of Steve Woolgar, present a problematic version of instrumental irony. Woolgar's own view is presented as instrumental and his antipathy to theorizing is opposed by arguing for the need to adopt a privileged position in order to carry out his recommended refusal of objectivist discourse.

This article examines various positions within science studies on scientific hegemony. After discussing the work of Stephan Fuchs and the “ epistemological chicken” debate, it proceeds to take issue with the claim that science is both locally accomplished and hegemonic. It offers the suggestion that critical accounts would better reconsider the ethos of their audience rather than simply worry about the objectivism of their own representations of science.