Introduction: STS and Neoliberal Science

Abstract

In this special issue, we focus on the particular impacts of neoliberalism as a regime of scientific management. Drawing on a wide range of studies from other fields, as well as the four cases in this issue, we argue that while there are important differences in how neoliberalism has been implemented across nations and disciplines, there are a set of key principles and common outcomes that can serve a heuristic function for STS scholars attempting a more careful examination of neoliberalism. These common outcomes include: the rollback of public funding for universities; the separation of research and teaching missions, leading to rising numbers of temporary faculty; the dissolution of the scientific author; the narrowing of research agendas to focus on the needs of commercial actors; an increasing reliance on market take-up to adjudicate intellectual disputes; and the intense fortification of intellectual property in an attempt to commercialize knowledge, impeding the production and dissemination of science. Taken together, these shifts suggest that the impact of neoliberal science policy and management extends far beyond the patent system into the methods, organization, and content of science. We thus urge STS scholars to undertake a detailed exploration of exactly how the external political—economic forces of neoliberalism are transforming technoscience.

Ecosystem approaches to health and knowledge-to-action: towards a political ecology of applied health-environment knowledge

“…This observation complements STS work addressing 'neoliberal science' (Lave, Mirowski, and Randalls 2010) by illustrating the interaction between complex-systemic ecosystem management approaches to health, and Canada's arguably neoliberal foreign policy interventions. Specifically, policies consistent with neoliberal ideology appear to motivate or justify the institutionalization of accountability mechanisms within universities, which in turn incentivize particular kinds of scholarship -including complex systems approaches that are often unencumbered by excessive attention to historical and ongoing inequities.…”

Getting It Right: Canadian Conservatives and the “War on Science”

“…Finally, it is indisputable that the government systematically reoriented state priorities vis-à-vis science away from long-term, disinterested inquiry and toward short-term investment in research supporting commercial and industrial development, productivity, and economic growth. These tendencies have been regrettable from a democratic or environmental perspective, but they were nonetheless perfectly consistent with the neoliberal ideology of contemporary conservative partisans (Barney, 2002;Harvey 2007;Lave, Mirowski, & Randalls, 2010;Laycock, 2001). …”

Advancing Understanding about the Relationship between Science, University and Society – An Introduction

“…The fi rst article by Norma Möllers draws from an ethnographical study of a governmentfunded, transdisciplinary research group which was engaged in the development of a "smart" video surveillance system for screening "dangerous" behaviour in public places. Anchoring her study in the discussion about the neoliberal technoscience (Lave et al, 2010), theories of transformation in science and the university (e.g. Gibbons et al, 1994;Etzkowitz, 2008) and symbolic interactionist perspective on scientific practice (e.g.…”