The study of the way in which social processes and social context influence, for good or ill, the flow of information through groups. The kinds of idea or belief that will become common in a group will be a function of many factors beyond individual observation and inference, or the straightforward transmission of individual knowledge through communication. These include background traditions, deferential relations to authority, or social or economic advantage or disadvantage, the latter often implying that there are people whose voices simply do not count. In the hands of writers such as Marx and Foucault even ‘objective’ science cannot free itself from ideological motivation or hidden forces of influence, politics, and power. Less apocalyptic investigations have been furthered by the contemporary American philosopher Alvin Goldman, whose Knowledge in a Social World (1999) has influenced more recent work. See also ideology, testimony.