ADULT;
ANIMAL;
ANIMAL EXPERIMENT;
ARTICLE;
BEHAVIOR;
BIOMEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH;
CLONING;
CULTURAL FACTOR;
GENETICS AND REPRODUCTION;
GOVERNMENT REGULATION;
HEALTH CARE POLICY;
HUMAN;
INFORMATION DISSEMINATION;
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION;
MEDICAL ETHICS;
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT;
PUBLIC OPINION;
PUBLIC RELATIONS;
PUBLICATION;
PUBLISHING;
RISK ASSESSMENT;
ROSLIN INSTITUTE (SCOTLAND);
SOCIAL BEHAVIOR;
UNITED KINGDOM;
UNITED STATES;
BIOMEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH;
GENETICS AND REPRODUCTION;
ROSLIN INSTITUTE (SCOTLAND);
ADULT;
ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION;
ANIMALS;
CLONING, ORGANISM;
CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON;
EDITORIAL POLICIES;
ETHICS, MEDICAL;
GOVERNMENT REGULATION;
GREAT BRITAIN;
HEALTH POLICY;
HUMANS;
INFORMATION DISSEMINATION;
INTERNATIONALITY;
NEWSPAPERS;
POWER (PSYCHOLOGY);
PUBLIC OPINION;
PUBLIC RELATIONS;
RISK ASSESSMENT;
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY;
UNITED STATES;
The recombinant DNA controversy culminating in the Asilomar conference of 1975 is now interpreted by some scholars as a strategy whereby scientists asserted their authority over the social agendas, by ensuring that discussions were framed in a technical discourse. See Wright S. Molecular politics in a global economy. Politics and the Life Sciences 1996;15(2):249-63 and references therein.
The concept of recruiting allies is fundamental to Bruno Latour's anthropological description of scientific research (Science in Action. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988). He deploys the notion to argue that even the construction of factual knowledge in science is a political process of negotiation and that those who win-those who are credited with having made a scientific discovery-are those who have recruited the best alliances. We use the concept in a more conventional sense relating to the process by which public acceptance is secured that a given piece of scientific work is an inherently valuable addition to the stock of knowledge and that it will have beneficial consequences. This process has been very fully explored by Michael Mulkay in The embryo research debate: Science and the politics of reproduction Cambridge University Press, 1997. However, there is an echo of Latour's usage in the argument, made toward the end of this article, that social and legal facts will not readily be accepted as such unless constituencies or alliances exist to defend those facts in the public domain.
The concept of recruiting allies is fundamental to Bruno Latour's anthropological description of scientific research (Science in Action. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988). He deploys the notion to argue that even the construction of factual knowledge in science is a political process of negotiation and that those who win-those who are credited with having made a scientific discovery-are those who have recruited the best alliances. We use the concept in a more conventional sense relating to the process by which public acceptance is secured that a given piece of scientific work is an inherently valuable addition to the stock of knowledge and that it will have beneficial consequences. This process has been very fully explored by Michael Mulkay in The embryo research debate: Science and the politics of reproduction Cambridge University Press, 1997. However, there is an echo of Latour's usage in the argument, made toward the end of this article, that social and legal facts will not readily be accepted as such unless constituencies or alliances exist to defend those facts in the public domain.
From labs to hacks: Are scientific journals doing their job?
Paper given University College London, 18 April
Wilkie T. From labs to hacks: are scientific journals doing their job? Paper given at seminar on Scientific Journals and the Public, University College London, 18 April 1997.
