The Paradox of Scientific Authority: The Role of Scientific Advice in Democracies

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Wiebe E. Bijker Roland Bal

The Paradox of Scientific Authority

The Role of Scientific Advice in Democracies

Wiebe E. Bijker, Roland Bal, Ruud Hendriks

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English

Massachusetts Inst of Tec
07 July 2017

Encyclopaedias & reference works; Ethical issues: scientific & technological developments; Mathematics & Sciences

Series: Inside Technology

Assessing the influence of scientific advice in societies that increasingly question scientific authority and expertise.

Today, scientific advice is asked for (and given) on questions ranging from stem-cell research to genetically modified food. And yet it often seems that the more urgently scientific advice is solicited, the more vigorously scientific authority is questioned by policy makers, stakeholders, and citizens. This book examines a paradox- how scientific advice can be influential in society even when the status of science and scientists seems to be at a low ebb. The authors do this by means of an ethnographic study of the creation of scientific authority at one of the key sites for the interaction of science, policy, and society- the scientific advisory committee. The Paradox of Scientific Authority offers a detailed analysis of the inner workings of the influential Health Council of the Netherlands (the equivalent of the National Academy of Science in the United States), examining its societal role as well as its internal functioning, and using the findings to build a theory of scientific advising. The question of scientific authority has political as well as scholarly relevance. Democratic political institutions, largely developed in the nineteenth century, lack the institutional means to address the twenty-first century's pervasively scientific and technological culture; and science and technology studies (STS) grapples with the central question of how to understand the authority of science while recognizing its socially constructed nature.

Assessing the influence of scientific advice in societies that increasingly question scientific authority and expertise.

Today, scientific advice is asked for (and given) on questions ranging from stem-cell research to genetically modified food. And yet it often seems that the more urgently scientific advice is solicited, the more vigorously scientific authority is questioned by policy makers, stakeholders, and citizens. This book examines a paradox- how scientific advice can be influential in society even when the status of science and scientists seems to be at a low ebb. The authors do this by means of an ethnographic study of the creation of scientific authority at one of the key sites for the interaction of science, policy, and society- the scientific advisory committee. The Paradox of Scientific Authority offers a detailed analysis of the inner workings of the influential Health Council of the Netherlands (the equivalent of the National Academy of Science in the United States), examining its societal role as well as its internal functioning, and using the findings to build a theory of scientific advising. The question of scientific authority has political as well as scholarly relevance. Democratic political institutions, largely developed in the nineteenth century, lack the institutional means to address the twenty-first century's pervasively scientific and technological culture; and science and technology studies (STS) grapples with the central question of how to understand the authority of science while recognizing its socially constructed nature.

By: Wiebe E. Bijker, Roland Bal, Ruud Hendriks
Imprint: Massachusetts Inst of Tec
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 13mm
Weight: 369g
ISBN: 9780262535380
ISBN 10: 0262535386
Series: Inside Technology
Pages: 238
Publication Date: 07 July 2017
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Wiebe E. Bijker is Professor at Maastricht University and the author of Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs: Toward a Theory of Sociotechnical Change (MIT Press) and other books. Roland Bal is Professor in and Founding Chair of the Department of Healthcare Governance of the Institute of Health Policy and Management, Rotterdam. Ruud Hendriks is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maastricht.