History and Past Activities
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History and Past Activities |
Priska Gisler
BIOS Centre, London School of Economics, London
Stomping the ground, touching the core – How can institutional changes influence scientific practices
It is certainly no longer surprising to see more and more science-business-partnerships emerge. Constituting corporate sponsorships belong to the instruments, universities and research institutes reach for in order to compete internationally with their own means to perform high-quality research. And although these firms are allowed open access to the knowledge gained in the research labs, scientific knowledge is still mostly claimed to be independent, free of constraints in its making and obeying scientific principles.
The case of the production of a scientific exhibit called “Stomping Ground”, displaying avant-garde sensor technologies to the public in a science-centre, is used in this paper, to elaborate how research labs and scientists themselves enforce such partnerships on the one hand and yet struggle with them on the other hand.
The analysis of interviews with scientists involved in this display, shows that scientists continue drawing a line between the epistemic core and the world outside. The state of the scientific object, a product in this case, however takes on a decisive role as a barrier between theoretical work and ready-made technological product, a barrier behind which the scientists probably seek shelter. The statements show how sponsors are increasingly drawn into the scientific field and are close to become members of the community. Boundaries yet get re-established between the researchers and the public to whom the objects are displayed. The object of scientific interest changes along these lines from an experimental model to a working prototype at least.
In this paper I am going to explore how the need to generate “pure” science, evaluated by a peer review system of equals from once, is dealt with currently . I ask furthermore how and in which sense collaborating researchers can be seen as constituting communities in the sense of Fleck’s ‘Denkkollektiv’ under these changed structural circumstances. And I will develop how a scientific object, mobilised through different social worlds, is constructed, in order to be nurturing the various involved actors’ needs.
Sociology of Science and Technology NETwork - last update: April 2006