Preserving a Space for Science in an Age of Democracy 英文参考文献.docVIP

BookReview/ScienceintheMedia PreservingaSpaceforScienceinanAgeofDemocracy HarryCollins* CentrefortheStudyofKnowledgeExpertiseandScience(KES),CardiffUniversity,Cardiff,UnitedKingdom How should scientific advice be incor- porated into the political decisionmaking process? Even experts can’t keep up with the torrent of studies published in their balanceoftheintroductionof,say,anew drug,andthepoliticianswouldchoosethe acceptablebalanceforsociety. The authors explain why things are alwaysmuchmorecomplicatedthanthis. For example, it is often hard to be clear about where science ends and policy begins. It all depends on what you mean by science. As they cleverly point out, what we mean by the outcome of a scientificdeliberationispartlydetermined by how the Gezondheidsraad goes about selecting the people it will consult: the Gezondheidsraad is the legitimator for what counts as a scientific deliberation, not just a doer of scientific deliberation. This kind of point is illustrated through closeobservationofaseriesofpassagesof decision-makingwheretheauthorswhere present during the various stages and conducted interviews with the principal parties. own field, and, supposedly, scientific issues—from climate change to biodiver- sity loss—have obvious political compo- nents. How is advice treated in an age whenexpertsareincreasinglyviewedwith suspicionanddistrust? TheParadoxofScientificAuthority:TheRole ofScientificAdviceinDemocracies,byWiebeE Bijker, Roland Bal, and Ruud Hendriks, reveals the political decision-making in a study of the inner workings of the ‘‘Gezondheidsraad,’’ a scientific advisory body to the Dutch government. Dutch officialsinvitedBijkeretal.toobservethe processandwritetheiraccount,whichwas eventually presented to Queen Beatrix. So,itisoneofthoseinstances—thesedays growing in number—where the once- reviledsociologistsarebeingaskedtohelp the powerful understand the relationship between policy and science. The authors are well aware of the problems pos