Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Science funding & policy
|
Buy Now
Searching for Science Policy (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R1,852
Discovery Miles 18 520
|
|
Searching for Science Policy (Hardcover)
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
|
The findings of scientific research often provide an important
baseline to the formation of public policy. However, effective
communication to the larger public about what scientists do and
know is a problem inherent to all democratic societies. It is the
prerogative of democratic societies to determine what kind of
scientific research will be funded. "Searching for Science Policy"
offers innovative ways of thinking about how the rhetoric and
practice of science operates in various institutional contexts.
The book is divided into two parts. Part 1, "Policy Uses and
Misuses of Science," explores the various ways in which scientific
claims are inevitably mediated by how they are used. Joel Best,
draws on statistics involving missing children, violence against
women, and attendance figures at political demonstrations to
demonstrate how the motivations to use inaccurate and misleading
numbers stems directly from the ideological and organizational
interests of those using them. Judith Kleinfeld analyzes
recruitment policies for women scientists at MIT, showing how
hiring practices that may be justifiable on extra-scientific
factors are carried out based on pseudo-scientific studies not
subject to public scrutiny. Robert MacCoun addresses the
journalistic misuse of drug and drug abuse statistics and shows how
this profoundly distorts policy implications drawn from them. And
Allan Mazur examines the role scientific evidence has come to play
in the law, pointing out the pitfalls of its intrinsic quality and
how such evidence may be interpreted or misinterpreted by judges
and juries.
Part 2, "Searching for Science Policy," extends discussion of the
role of science to specific ideas about how public policy-making
might be improved in matters of law, family, environment, drug use,
and health. Mark Kleiman weighs the sometimes conflicting claims of
science and social order in formulating drug policy. Norval Glenn
calls for closer cooperation between professional associations, the
media, and researchers in reporting provisional social science
findings to the public. Stanley Rothman and S. Robert Lichter
examine the dynamic by which environmental organizations shape
public perceptions of risk and harm. And in the concluding chapter,
Sheila Jasanoff looks closely at differences between the
provisional nature of science as normally practiced and the more
contentious sphere of litigation that demands ultimate resolution.
In a time when scientists find themselves subject to more public
scrutiny than ever before, the well-informed citizen is no longer a
moral ideal but rather a social imperative. "Searching for Science
Policy" helps to clarify the grounds and the circumstances of more
effective use of science in public discourse.
Jonathan B. Imber is editor in chief of "Society" and Class of
1949 Professor in Ethics and professor of sociology at Wellesley
College.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.