Deviance in the practice of science.

Abstract

The author discusses misconduct in biomedical research in terms of research about deviance. The ancient mantle of the sacred was transferred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century from religious institutions to the scientists and the universities that they came to dominate. Universities were engaged in the pursuit of truth; and when science came to dominate universities, they became the hallowed ground of science. Many younger scientists consider that theirs is professional work like any other, but the general public, journalists, and policymakers still consider that scientists who break the rules are guilty of heinous offenses (violations of a sacred trust). This explains in part the different reactions of scientists and the public to recent scandals involving medical researchers. One of the most important points about deviance among scientists is the need to distinguish between rules imposed on the actor and rules that the individual is personally committed to. As government funding has come to dominate biomedical research, scientists have become part of huge bureaucratic entities with values, policies, and views often at variance from those of the scientific community. Increasingly, scientists find conflict between the values and mores of their community and the rules and mores of the federal and university bureaucracies that control modern science. Scientists can come to feel that they can violate the bureaucrats' rules and still be highly principled because they do not violate the values of science. The danger is that, by a process of drift, they can come to violate increasingly important, even primary, values of science.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)