History and Past Activities
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History and Past Activities |
John Ziman
Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of Bristol, England
Private address: 27 Little London Green, Oakley, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP18 9QL, England
email: solzim@compuserve.com
Tel/Fax : +44 1844 237 464
Non-instrumental roles for science
The technologization of science is an extreme manifestation of socio-economic instrumentalism, whereby science is to be fostered solely for its tangible contributions to wealth, health, safety, welfare, productivity, national competitiveness, etc. But in an open, pluralistic society, scientific research performs a number of other valuable societal roles. In addition to technological innovations, scientific institutions customarily produce a variety of public goods, such as meticulously educated people, instructive and challenging world pictures, reliable models and theories, sophisticated material and intellectual techniques, and impartial critical expertise.
These benefits only arise, however, from scientific activity that satisfies certain institutional conditions, such as public openness, meritocratic preferment, intellectual independence, operational autonomy and structured internal debate. By and large, these conditions were realised in the traditional research practices of universities and other "academic" institutions. Thus, innumerable technological innovations can be traced back to "curiosity-driven" investigations undertaken by tenured professors, who could also be called on for objective, authoritative opinion on many controversial technical and social issues.
Can these conditions, and their associated benefits, survive technologization? Can ‘post-academic’ institutions conducting ‘Mode 2’ research perform the traditional non-instrumental roles of science? Are shifting multidisciplinary teams and networks compatible with the transmission of established knowledge through undergraduate teaching and research training? Will originality be fostered or stifled? Who will provide independent advice and peer review? Who will guard the scientific archives? These are just some of the questions calling for urgent social study.
Sociology of Science and Technology NETwork - last update: April 2006