National Science Foundation Patronage of Social Science, 1970s and 1980s: Congressional Scrutiny, Advocacy Network, and the Prestige of Economics

Research in the social sciences received generous patronage in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Research was widely perceived as providing solutions to emerging social problems. That generosity came under increased contest in the late 1970s. Although these trends held true for all of the social sciences, this essay explores the various ways by which economists in particular reacted to and resisted the patronage cuts that were proposed in the first budgets of the Reagan administration. Economists?? response was three fold: to engage in joint lobbying with other social scientists, to tap into their authority as a respected policy player, and to influence the types of research financed by the patron. With interviews of the former lobbyist for the social scientists, the former director of the Economics program for the National Science Foundation, and a review of the archival records of economists and their scholarly society, we discuss how economists have claimed entitlement to patronage in the closing decades of the twentieth century. We observe a dynamic and productive relationship between politicians and researchers mediated by the National Science Foundation, where civil servants, lobbyist and public minded scientists, and self-serving grantees trade roles.     

民族危机下的中国自由主义——以20世纪30年代天津《益世报》为中心

本文以天津<益世报>为中心,将自由主义的理论研究置于20世纪30年代多重复杂的历史语境之中,探讨两者间的互动关系,以揭示自由主义知识分子在严峻的民族危机之下对中国自由主义话语体系的重构.文章对30年代自由主义的解读主要包括三个方面的内容:一、重新解读自由主义的核心基础--个人主义;二、抨击国民党的一党专制,主张开放党禁,实行政党政治;三、在保障个人自由与公民权利的基础上,制定宪法,并希望能按照宪政民主的原则,建立一个即有能力又有能负责的政府,以期克服当时严峻的民族危机.     

Science Advising and Science Policy in Post-War West Germany: The example of the Deutscher Forschungsrat

The Deutscher Forschungsrat (GermanResearch Council) attempted to anchor scienceadvising and science policy in West Germanyafter the Second World War. Promoted by acircle of élite scientists, the councilaimed to establish institutions and mechanismscomparable to those in Great Britain, theUnited States, and other scientific powers.After a two-and-a-half year existence, iteventually failed. The reasons for its failure,some local, some global, display thedifficulties facing research policy in theearly years of the Federal Republic.     

The Grand Challenges Discourse: Transforming Identity Work in Science and Science Policy

This article analyzes the concept of “grand challenges” as part of a shift in how scientists and policymakers frame and communicate their respective agendas. The history of the grand challenges discourse helps to understand how identity work in science and science policy has been transformed in recent decades. Furthermore, the question is raised whether this discourse is only an indicator, or also a factor in this transformation. Building on conceptual history and historical semantics, the two parts of the article reconstruct two discursive shifts. First, the observation that in scientific communication references to “problems” are increasingly substituted by references to “challenges” indicates a broader cultural trend of how attitudes towards what is problematic have shifted in the last decades. Second, as the grand challenges discourse is rooted in the sphere of sports and competition, it introduces a specific new set of societal values and practices into the spheres of science and technology. The article concludes that this process can be characterized as the sportification of science, which contributes to self-mobilization and, ultimately, to self-optimization of the participating scientists, engineers, and policymakers.     

American Influence on British Higher Education: Science,Technology, and the Problem of University Expansion, 1945–1963

The increased support of science andtechnology were fundamental factors in theexpansion of university education in post-warBritain. American technical assistance toWestern Europe, exemplified by the MarshallPlan, also focused upon the role of appliedscience and technology as a means of boostingproductivity and competitiveness. This commonconcern for science and technology led Britainto consider the adoption of American models,specifically a British version of MIT, in thesearch for an effective higher education policyfor applied science and technology. However,this paper argues that, whilst America offeredimportant models for change, British policieswere ultimately shaped by British traditions.     

The Pacific Science Board in Micronesia: Science,Government, and Conservation on the Post-War Pacific Frontier

This article examines the planningand execution of scientific field work in thepost-war Micronesian Trust Territory, under theaegis of the Pacific Science Board (within theNational Research Council). It argues that thework of the PSB can be characterized as both`big natural history', and routine `frontierscience' in that scientific expertise wasintended to aid in managing the Trust. It alsoexamines the limitations of scientists whostruggled to extend American conservation andpreservation strategies on distant Pacificfrontier territories.     

The Public Values Failures of Climate Science in the US

This paper examines the broad social purpose of US climate science, which has benefitted from a public investment of more than $30 billion over the last 20 years. A public values analysis identifies five core public values that underpin the interagency program. Drawing from interviews, meeting observations, and document analysis, I examine the decision processes and institutional structures that lead to the implementation of climate science policy, and identify a variety of public values failures accommodated by this system. In contrast to other cases which find market values frameworks (the “profit as progress” assumption) at the root of public values failures, this case shows how “science values” (“knowledge as progress”) may serve as an inadequate or inappropriate basis for achieving broader public values. For both institutions and individual decision makers, the logic linking science to societal benefit is generally incomplete, incoherent, and tends to conflate intrinsic and instrumental values. I argue that to be successful with respect to its motivating public values, the US climate science enterprise must avoid the assumption that any advance in knowledge is inherently good, and offer a clearer account of the kinds of research and knowledge advance likely to generate desirable social outcomes.     

Politics and Interests in the Republic of Science

The institutions of science arecomposed of communities with conflicting andoverlapping interests. In the United States,the internal governance of science resemblesthe structure of republican government,particularly in its fragmentation,representation, and extension. This articlecalls upon Michael Polanyi's metaphor of a`Republic of Science' in the context ofAmerican history and political theory, toexamine the ways in which these interests arerepresented. Using the metaphor obliges us toask about rules of citizenship in the`Republic', and to determine whether those whopay for science should also be represented inits institutions.     

The Public Understanding of Science and Public Participation in Regulated Worlds

This article discusses studies and politicalinitiatives concerned with enhancing publicinvolvement in major technological decisions.It argues that such decisions should include asignificant role for the mass media, andrespect for the diverse relations betweenscience and governance. The notion of`regulated worlds' is proposed as a startingpoint in a discourse that brings together themass media, science management, anddeliberative democracy.