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Article: Speaking precision to power: the modern political role of social science.
- Article from:
- Social Research
- Article date:
- December 22, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 New School for Social Research. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE MODERN COMPACT BETWEEN SCIENCE AND THE STATE ALLOWS FOR the flow of public money to research and an expectation that politicians will generally not meddle with the scientific work--on condition that the science, reciprocally, should stay clear of politics. That seems at first a harmless constraint, for what could be political about the formation and breakdown of atmospheric ozone, the dynamics of ocean currents, or the neurological development of a fetus? Yet in none of these areas can scientific research now stand apart from charged public issues. Indeed, while political pressures on science have grown in contemporary America, and especially in the current millennium, ...