Disrupting science : social movements, American scientists, and the politics of the military, 1945-1975 / Kelly Moore.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Moore, Kelly, 1962-

Series:

Princeton studies in cultural sociology.

Princeton studies in cultural sociology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science--Social aspects--United States--History--20th century.

Science.

Science--Political aspects--United States--History--20th century.

Scientists--United States--Political activity--History--20th century.

Scientists.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (325 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the decades following World War II, American scientists were celebrated for their contributions to social and technological progress. They were also widely criticized for their increasingly close ties to military and governmental power--not only by outside activists but from among the ranks of scientists themselves. Disrupting Science tells the story of how scientists formed new protest organizations that democratized science and made its pursuit more transparent. The book explores how scientists weakened their own authority even as they invented new forms of political action. Drawing extensively from archival sources and in-depth interviews, Kelly Moore examines the features of American science that made it an attractive target for protesters in the early cold war and Vietnam eras, including scientists' work in military research and activities perceived as environmentally harmful. She describes the intellectual traditions that protesters drew from--liberalism, moral individualism, and the New Left--and traces the rise and influence of scientist-led protest organizations such as Science for the People and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Moore shows how scientist protest activities disrupted basic assumptions about science and the ways scientific knowledge should be produced, and recast scientists' relationships to political and military institutions. Disrupting Science reveals how the scientific community cumulatively worked to unbind its own scientific authority and change how science and scientists are perceived. In doing so, the book redefines our understanding of social movements and the power of insider-led protest.

Contents:

Introduction

The expansion and critiques of science-military ties, 1945-1970

Scientists as moral individuals : Quakerism and the Society for Social Responsibility in Science

Information and political neutrality : liberal science activism and the St. Louis Committee for Nuclear Information

Confronting liberalism : the anti-Vietnam War movement and the ABM debate, 1965-1969

Doing "Science for the People" : enactments of a new left politics of science

Conclusions : disrupting the social and moral order of science.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [269]-291) and index.

ISBN:

9786612158940

9781282158948

1282158945

9781400823802

1400823803

OCLC:

436089171