A Fragile Power: Scientists and the State - Princeton Legacy Library 3567 by Chandra Mukerji Details
When the National Science Foundation finances research on the Earth's crust and the Department of Energy supports studies on nuclear waste disposal, what do you expect for its money? Most…
When the National Science Foundation finances research on the Earth's crust and the Department of Energy supports studies on nuclear waste disposal, what do you expect for its money? Most scientists believe that in such cases, the government wants information for immediate use or trends to seek future benefits from nature. Chandra Mukherjee portrays this simplistic concept, and depicts a more complex connection between science and state. Live examples of heavily funded oceanography, particularly recent work on seabed hot springs and the disposal of nuclear waste in the oceans, are used to ask questions about science as practiced and funded today.
They found that scientists act as government authors of knowledge rather than elite and highly skilled skills held to legitimize American policies and programs: scientists allow their authority over government officials who use scientific ideas for political purposes. In a fragile and free-of-term style, Mukerji writes a strange mixture of independence and specific dependency on post-World War II researchers - a mixture that has since changed but continues to shape the practical behavior of science.
Scientists use their control over the scientific content of research to convince themselves of their independence and to exercise some authority in their dealings with funding agencies, but they still rely mainly on the state. Mukherjee argues that they are a kind of reserve force, such as reserve army or naval forces, paid by the government to conduct research only because science is politically necessary for the work of the modern state. This book is necessary for reading not only for sociologists, students of science and society, and ocean scientists, but also for every world whose work depends directly or indirectly on government support. Originally published in 1990.
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