Context Of Social Sciences Research Articles

Professional backgrounds of rectors at Turkish universities: a critical evaluation

This study opens for discussion, the vocational backgrounds of University Rectors at Turkish Universities for the 2007–2008 and 2008–2009 academic years within the context of Sciences, Health Sciences, and Social Sciences. The study is based on a critical evaluation which focuses on the problem that the Rectors do not come from an equal distribution of occupations and the problem created by the selection system. The fact that Medical Doctor's constituted % 49.4 of all the serving Rectors during the 2007–2008 academic year, testifies to this fact. The study has been realized in this focal axis and the assumptions are that the research data could be gathered via YÖK, telephone calls and the web sites of the universities and that at the subsequent phase, this data could be developed and expanded by the use of descriptive analysis.

The Nobel Prize in the Physics Class: Science, History, and Glamour

This paper introduces a novel strategy for teaching physics: using the Nobel Physics Prize as an organizational theme for high school or even first year university physics, bringing together history, social contexts of science, and central themes in modern physics. The idea underlying the strategy is that the glamour and glitter of the Nobel Prize story may attract and motivate high school students to open-up to scientific topics and thus be spurred to pursue science. The two major arguments for the method are that if presented in story form Nobel Prizes naturally incorporate the philosophical and historical aspects of science and therefore enable teaching about science as well as teaching science itself; and that such instruction implements case-based teaching principles, which is how humans naturally think, learn, and remember. Finally, the paper presents the storycase of the Nobel Prize Einstein received for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect as a concrete illustration of classroom implementation.

Reinventing Social Studies: By All Means!

WHEN I was asked to respond to Reinventing Social Studies, I began by considering many points Kevin St. Jarre raises about beginnings of social studies, place of history and other social science disciplines in social studies education, characterization of secondary social studies teaching, and how best to reinvent social studies and put subject area squarely on path of our students to live in a globalized world. While I initially selected my involvement in teacher education programs as primary lens for my analysis, on further reflection, I decided to take a wider view and include my many other experiences in education community. I want to use Mr. St. Jarre's commitment to secondary education and his passion for social studies as a springboard to elaborate on main issues he raises and to describe why reinventing social studies is no easy task. Thus it is unnecessary to devote much space to discussing role of history and other social science disciplines in development of a social studies curriculum. There is no question that in 1916 National Education Association (NEA) viewed history as discipline that should play major role in early development of a social studies curriculum. At turn of 20th century, history was well positioned in schools and universities, and, along with content from geography and political science, was viewed as core subject area in a social studies curriculum for K-12 schools. American historians believed in the value of historical knowledge to strengthen individual, sharpen mind, broaden horizon, and give depth to soul. (1) Social studies proponents also viewed history as providing framework (i.e., chronology) by which to examine events, issues, trends, and personalities in social science contexts. While other social scientists were forming separate organizations (e.g., American Anthropological Association, American Psychological Association) and accurately perceived advantages of playing a role in development of social studies curriculum, they were too inexperienced to counter influence of American Historical Association. As a result, well into late 1900s, social studies/history was one of core subject areas in K-12 curriculum, with few of social science organizations challenging its primacy. After reading Reinventing Social Studies, I believe Mr. St. Jarre and I agree on what is meant by social studies and its intended purpose in curriculum. The definition he quotes, adopted by NEA Committee on Social Studies in 1916, may seem vague--those [disciplines] whose subject matter relates directly to organization and development of human society, and to man as a member of social groups--but it is quite similar to one National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) developed and continues to use: the integrated study of social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence. (2) In NCSS position statements on social studies education, promotion of civic competence refers to nurturing an awareness and understanding of students' immediate communities and many others to which they belong. What I find surprising is that Mr. St. Jarre makes no mention of NCSS, but his notions about creating competent citizens and preparing students to live in a globalized society seem to echo organization's definition and stated purpose for social studies education. However, unlike Mr. St. Jarre, I do not see history as merely a record, not an analysis. In House of War, James Carroll eloquently describes what history means to historians: [it] is not a catalogue of events, not just a knowledge of their chronology .... History is, rather, appreciation of how events relate to each other, if not causally, then mythically. Objectively but also personally .... Our concern is not only with what happened but how it felt, and how it set other things moving in public realm and in human heart. …

Using Poisson Class Regression To Analyze Count Data in Correctional and Forensic Psychology

The benchmark model for count data is the Poisson distribution, and the standard statistical procedure for analyzing count data is Poisson regression. However, highly restrictive assumptions lead to frequent misspecification of the Poisson model. Alternate approaches, such as negative binomial regression, zero modified procedures, and truncated and censored models are consequently required to handle count data in many social science contexts. Empirical examples from correctional and forensic psychology are provided to illustrate the importance of replacing ordinary least squares regression with Poisson class procedures in situations when count data are analyzed.

Trial Consulting

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewFull AccessTrial ConsultingGinger Lerner-WrenGinger Lerner-WrenSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Nov 2006https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.2006.57.11.1664AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Amy Posey and Lawrence Wrightsman's book, Trial Consulting , takes a comprehensive and provocative look at the field of trial consulting in the United States. In a book rich in data and details surrounding the most critical phases of trial practice, Posey and Wrightsman rip open the mystique surrounding this profession and raise some important issues as to the direction in which it should move. One of the primary overarching themes of Trial Consulting is related to the message that if this profession is going to be viewed as credible and relevant in a social science context, there must be both research performed and evidence shared. The authors tell of a field bursting in popularity wherein most high-level law firms would not think of trying a case without the benefit or utilization of a trial consultant in some form. The authors raise a great question as to just how one defines the role, functions, and expertise of people currently in the field. Trial consulting is a service mostly provided to the wealthy, and the book not so subtly makes the case that consumers must beware. Who one is retaining, with what experience, and with what degree of success is almost impossible to corroborate or document. Confidentiality and secrecy surrounding this field persist. Trial consultants are often self-proclaimed, and what elements qualify a person as competent in the field and how a law firm accurately assesses credentials are open questions.The field has no regulations. A fairly loose but growing professional association has no professional standards of membership or ethics code. The range of disciplines of practitioners in the field is vast. Consultants include lawyers, psychologists, marketers, and anyone professing some expertise to offer.The authors do an excellent job of outlining major areas where trial consulting is most often used. From mock trials to change in venue polling to witness preparation, any law student in trial advocacy or trial attorney will benefit from the wealth of facts and research provided in this book. The most fascinating parts of the book relate to jury selection and deliberations and discussions of the use of trial consultants in some of this country's most high-profile cases. The descriptions of the failure of proper witness preparation in the historic Triangle Shirtwaist trial of 1911 and of the first use of psychologists as trial consultants in the Harrisburg Seven trial in 1972 are exciting reads. Trial Consulting reveals first hand how well-intended trial strategies—such as jury sequestration in the O.J. Simpson trial—actually had an overt negative impact on jurors. This book is multidimensional and valuable to a wide audience, from forensic experts to law students, attorneys, and judges. Trial Consulting is an eye-opener that reminds us that the field of trial consulting is still evolving and that for now the consumer should beware. Judge Lerner-Wren serves on the 17th Judicial Circuit, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByNone Volume 57Issue 11 November, 2006Pages 1664-1665PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES November 2006 Volume 57 Number 11 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 November 2006 Published in print 1 November 2006

Nature Conservationism and the Arctic Commons of Spitsbergen 1900–1920

The purpose of this article is to show how national interests and western ideas about the polar wilderness influenced initiatives taken in the early decades of the twentieth century to protect the natural environment of the Arctic islands of Spitsbergen, today called Svalbard. After a brief outline of the environmental history of the islands, the explanatory significance of a game theory-based assumption about the predicament of nature conservation on common land is discussed by applying it to this historical case. It is the environmental dilemma known as the “tragedy of the commons”. Some elements of the western and Scandinavian ideological interpretations of the Arctic nature are introduced as a background to the following discussion of the most significant early initiative of nature conservation in the Arctic: Hugo Conwentz's proposal for the protection of the nature of Spitsbergen of 1914. The conception and outcome of Conwentz's initiative is explained by references to the political, social and ideological contexts of early twentieth-century science and colonialism. In the final section, the post-war development of the environmental administration of the islands is correlated to the political situation following World War I with its many historical contingencies and the breakdown of internationalism in science and nature conservation.

Periódicos brasileiros de comunicação no Qualis/CAPES

Scientific and technical journals are some of the most important formal communication channels used by researchers in contemporary science. Due to the strategic importance of publication in the social context of science, journals have been sistematically focused on in studies, policies and concerns expressed by researchers, editors, librarians, policy makers, science managers and funders. The present paper reports the results of an exploratory research focusing the Brazilian journals dedicated to themes in the area of Communication which are part of the 2001-2003 QUALIS-CAPES list of journals. The purpose of the research is to map the current national titles in the area and determine their main features.

Housing in post‐colonial dublin

BOYM, S. (2002) The future of nostalgia. New York: Basic Books. BOYD, G (2005) Dublin, 1745-1922: hospitals, spectacle and vice. Dublin: Four Courts Press. BOYLE, M. (2005) Sartre's circular dialectic and the empires of abstract space: A history of space and place in Ballymun, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 95(1), 181-201. CARROLL-BURKE, P. (2002) Material designs: engineering cultures and engineering states-Ireland 1650-1900, Theory and Society, 31(1), 75-114. CORCORAN, M. (1997) The re-enchantment of Temple Bar, In: Peillon, M. and Slater, E. (eds) Memories of the present: a sociological chronicle, 1997-1998. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration, 9-24. CRONIN, M. (2003) Projecting the nation through sport and culture: Ireland, Aonach Tailteann and the Irish Free State, 1924-32, Journal of Contemporary History, 38(3), 395-411. HOURIHANE, M.A. (2000) She moves through the boom. Dublin: Sitric Books. JOHNSON, N. (1993) Building a nation: an examination of the Irish Gaelthacht Commission Reports of 1976, Journal of Historical Geography 19(2), 157-168. KEOHANE, K. (2002) The revitalization of Dublin and the demise of Joyce's Utopian modern subject, Theory, Culture and Society, 19(3), 29-49. . KIRBY, P., GIBBONS, L. and CRONIN, M. (2002) (eds) Reinventing Ireland: culture society and the global economy. London: Pluto Press. MAGUIRJE, M. (1998) Socialists, savages and hydroelectric schemes: a historical-anthropological account of the construction of Ardnacrusha, Irish Journal of Anthropology, 3(1), 60-77. MAGUIRE, M. and HOLLYWOOD, P. (2002) Introduction: the city in the era of globalization, City, 6(2), 167-172. O'CONNOR, B. 2005, Discourses of the dancing body in Ireland in the 1930s, Journal of Gender Studies, 14(2), 89-105. 6'FAOLAIN, N. (1996) Are you somebody? the accidental memoir of a Dublin woman. Dublin: New Island Books. O'KANE, F. (2000) Nurturing a revolution-Patrick Pearse's school garden at St Enda's, Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin, Ireland, Journal of Garden History Society, 28(1), 73-87. RYAN, L. (1998) Negotiating modernity and tradition: newspapers on the 'modem girl' in the Irish Free State, Journal of Gender Studies, 7(2), 181-198. SMITH, J. (2004) The politics of sexual knowledge: the origins of Ireland's containment culture and the Carrigan Report (1931), Journal of the History of Sexuality, 13(2), 208-233. SMYTH, G (2001) Space and the Irish cultural imagination. London: Macmillan. STEMBRIDGE, G (dir.) (2000) About Adam. Dublin: Bord Scannan na hEireann. VISSER, R. (2004) Spaces of disappearance: aesthetic responses to contemporary Beijing city planning, • Journal of Contemporary China, 13(39), 277-310. WHELAN, Y. (2003) Reinventing modern Dublin: streetscape, iconography and the politics of identity. Dublin: UCD Press. WHYTE, N. and BOWLER, P. (1997) Science and society in Ireland: the social contexts of science and technology in Ireland. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies. YEOH, B.S.A. (2001) Postcolonial cities, Progress in Human Geography 25(3), 456-468.

Strategies for Cultural Renewal in an American-Based Version of African Globalism

The United States is a prime setting for African cultural renewal because it offers a dynamic set of human and technological variables that can link our present to the foundations of our classical African past. The most recent human variables to include in modern strategies for success are the masses of recent immigrants from Africa. In a historical perspective of renewal, it would seem that because Africans can now voluntarily migrate to the United States, they would consider this a unique opportunity for expanding collaborative African globalism. Unfortunately, there is discord between newly arrived African groups and the traditional African American groups. However, the technological variables of the modern era can help to bridge the cultural gap between African Americans, Africans, and the classical African past. There are also perspectives available in literature that function within a social science context and offer additional strategies for a post-Western renewal.

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (review)

Reviewed by: American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer Frank Settle American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer It is difficult to believe that four works dealing with the life and times of J. Robert Oppenheimer have appeared within the past year, all of excellent quality. American Prometheus joins J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century by David C. Cassidy, 109 East Place Street: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos by Jennet Conant, and The Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Birth of the Modern Arms Race by Priscilla J. McMillan. As their titles indicate, these works approach this seminal figure of the twentieth century from different perspectives. Cassidy places Oppenheimer in the social context of twentieth-century science, government policy, and politics. Conant narrows her focus to Oppenheimer's leadership of the Los Alamos Laboratory during the Manhattan Project, while McMillan concentrates on the postwar period of his life. The biography by Bird and Sherwin under review here, however, emerges as the most comprehensive biography to date of the famous physicist. This meticulously researched, riveting work by two respected historians succeeds in the considerable task of capturing the essence of Oppenheimer, a remarkably complex figure. Using personal papers and public documents as well as interviews with members of Oppenheimer's family, friends, former students, and professional associates, the authors provide new insights into his life, including detailed descriptions of the scientist's relations with his parents, the women in his life, his scientific colleagues, [End Page 205] members of the military and the government, and his friends beyond these communities. Their well-written narrative progresses smoothly from his childhood, formal education, and early academic career to his leadership of the Manhattan Project, his post–World War II opposition to the development of the hydrogen bomb, and the removal of his security clearance by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The authors argue strongly that the revocation of Oppenheimer's clearance at the conclusion of AEC hearings in 1954, which they characterize as a kangaroo court, was not justified. His advocacy of international control of nuclear materials, opposition to the development of the hydrogen bomb, and criticism of the Air Force's plan for waging nuclear war led to the hearings. The inquiry was engineered by former AEC Commissioner Lewis Strauss, with vigorous assistance from attorney William Borden. These men, along with physicist Edward Teller and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, led the efforts to discredit Oppenheimer. While Oppenheimer had close associations with members of the Communist Party in the 1930s, as did many academics, the authors believe there is little solid evidence to suggest that he was ever a member of the party. In any case, by 1943 he had severed all contacts with the party. The authors examine the famous Haakon Chevalier incident in 1943 which would pose problems for Oppenheimer for the remainder of his life. It was contended that Chevalier had approached Oppenheimer about passing information on the atomic bomb to George Eltenton, a scientist with Soviet connections employed by the Shell Oil Company. Oppenheimer's response to questions regarding this encounter plagued him afterwards and damaged him in the AEC hearing. Although it remains unclear what actually happened, Sherwin and Bird use events surrounding this encounter to reveal much about the characters of both men. In addition to the exhaustive information on Oppenheimer, the authors provide interesting details on many of the persons whose lives intersected with his. These include General Leslie Groves; physicists Hans Bethe, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller; AEC commissioners David Lilienthal and Lewis Strauss; his wife, Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer, and, as mentioned above, his fellow academic and friend, Haakon Chevalier. For those with a desire to better understand this man who was influential in bringing humankind into the nuclear age and who then struggled with its impact on society, this book is a must. It puts all the other works on Oppenheimer into their proper perspectives. Frank Settle Washington & Lee University Lexington, Virginia Copyright © 2006 Society for Military History

Visibility Matters: Increasing Knowledge of Women's Contributions to Ecology

Recent scholarship about women and science is a good source of material for addressing the under-representation of women in science. This review is the result of an interdisciplinary fusion of science and women's studies to critically assess teaching tools in undergraduate ecology education. We examine: (1) the representation of women and the coverage of social and cultural context in introductory ecology textbooks, and (2) student learning about women's contributions to ecology. Discipline demographics reveal that women are presented in textbooks less often than expected, and that explicit discussions of the social and cultural context of science are rare. When course content is enriched with material about women's contributions, student's awareness of women scientists improves. Such knowledge can play a critical role in proactively challenging students' perceptions of ecology and ecologists, creating a more positive classroom climate for all students, and introducing novel avenues of questioning and discovery.

Visibility matters: increasing knowledge of women's contributions to ecology

Recent scholarship about women and science is a good source of material for addressing the under-representation of women in science. This review is the result of an interdisciplinary fusion of science and women's studies to critically assess teaching tools in undergraduate ecology education. We examine: (1) the representation of women and the coverage of social and cultural context in introductory ecology textbooks, and (2) student learning about women's contributions to ecology. Discipline demographics reveal that women are presented in textbooks less often than expected, and that explicit discussions of the social and cultural context of science are rare. When course content is enriched with material about women's contributions, student's awareness of women scientists improves. Such knowledge can play a critical role in proactively challenging students' perceptions of ecology and ecologists, creating a more positive classroom climate for all students, and introducing novel avenues of questioning and dis...

A Telescope on society: survey research and social science at the University of Michigan and beyond

A Telescope on Society seeks to convey the development of social science in the twentieth century through its interaction with a major new instrument for gathering data about society-survey research. The story of survey research and social science is largely told by social scientists affiliated with the Survey Research Center (SRC) and Institute for Social Research (IRS) at the University of Michigan about work done there. But the book also places this story in the broader context of survey-based social science in the United States and the world, to which many individuals and institutions beyond SRC, ISR, and Michigan have also contributed. The chapters of this volume illustrate the impact that developments in survey research have had and continue to have on a broad range of social science disciplines and interdisciplinary areas ranging from political behavior and electoral systems to macroeconomics and individual income dynamics, mental and physical health, human development and aging, and racial/ethnic diversity and relationships. The volume will speak to a wide audience of social science and survey research professionals and students interested in learning more about the broad history of survey-based social science and its contributions to understanding ourselves as social beings. It also seeks to convey how crucial institutional and public support are to the development of social science and survey research, as they have been to development in the natural, biomedical, and life sciences.The five editors of this book are longtime research professors and colleagues in the Survey Research Center of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. James S. House is also Professor in the Department of Sociology; F. Thomas Juster is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Economics; Robert L. Kahn is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology and Department of Health Management and Policy; and Howard Schuman is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology; Eleanor Singer is Research Professor in the Survey Research Center, all at the University of Michigan. Professors House (1991-2001), Kahn (1970-76), and Schuman (1982-90) have each served as Director of the Survey Research Center; Professor Juster served (1976-86) as Director of the Institute for Social Research; and Professor Singer served (1999-2002) as Associate Director of the Survey Research Center.

The Superiority of Simple Alternatives to Regression for Social Science Predictions

Some simple, nonoptimized coefficients (e.g., correlation weights, equal weights) were pitted against regression in extensive prediction competitions. After drawing calibration samples from large supersets of real and synthetic data, the researchers observed which set of sample-derived coefficients made the best predictions when applied back to the superset. When adjusted R from the calibration sample was < .6, correlation weights were typically superior to regression coefficients, even if the sample contained 100 observations per predictor; unit weights were likewise superior to all methods if adjusted R was < .4. Correlation weights were generally the best method. It was concluded that regression is rarely useful for prediction in most social science contexts.

The Hall Handbook of the Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902

Darrell Hall. The Hall Handbook of the Anglo-Boer 1899-1902. Edited by Fransjohan Pretorius and Gilbert Toralge. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 1999. x + 272 pp. Photographs. Tables. Maps. Illustrations. Bibliography. $50.00. Cloth. Martin F. Marix Evans. Encyclopedia of the Boer 1899-1902. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio Inc., 2000. xxviii + 414 pp. Photographs. Tables. Maps. Illustrations. Bibliography. Index. $75.00. Cloth. The centenary of the 1899-1902 Anglo-Boer War has brought forth a raft of books, from American, British, and South African publishers, as well a number of seminars, especially in South Africa. This has enabled scholars from South Africa, the rest of the Commonwealth, and the United States to delve into topics that were previously slighted, to discuss new (archival) sources, challenges, and interpretations, and to place that conflict within the wider context of historiography and social science. Particularly noteworthy has been a willingness of some Afrikaner historians to take a somewhat iconoclastic view of what had previously been the Afrikaner orthodoxy on the war, an orthodoxy that bolstered the rise and subsequent entrenchment of Afrikaner nationalism within the South African ethnic state. (See, for instance, Andre Wessels's extraordinarily perceptive chapter, at War, in John Gooch, ed., The Boer War: Direction, Experience and Image [London: Frank Cass Ltd., 2000], as well as Ian J. van der Waag's Re-Fighting the Second Anglo-Boer War: Historians in the Trenches, Journal for Contemporary History 27 [2], 2002.) As a result, there is something of a new view, rather than a deja vu. The cast of characters has grown, with those who were Orwellian unpersons at the time (due to the myopia of white supremacy shared, albeit in somewhat different forms, by both the Afrikaners and their imperial opponents in the war) now advanced to full historical actor status. There is some degree of overlap between these two reference works, and Martin Marix Evans often cites the late Darrell Hall's volume as a source for some of his data. Yet the Hall work tilts heavily toward the military (and naval) direction, whereas the Marix Evans volume covers a wider array of subjects, including the military. This can be explained in some measure by the background of each author. Hall, who died in 1996, was a South African, attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, and spent twenty years in the British army. Marix Evans graduated from Cambridge University and has published several works on military history (including an earlier one on the Anglo-Boer War). Hall's bibliography, although considerably shorter than the one in Marix Evans's book (three pages versus six pages, respectively), includes Dutch- and Afrikaans-language sources, as well as materials in English, while Marix Evans's bibliography is limited to English-language materials. Marix Evans draws heavily on articles in Soldiers of the Queen, the journal of the Victorian Military Society, a source that Hall does not cite. However, Marix Evans overlooks the equally useful Militaria and Military History Journal, two South African journals devoted to military history that frequently publish valuable articles on the second Anglo-Boer War. Neither bibliography includes a listing of other bibliographies on that conflict, and neither cites any unpublished theses and dissertations, although Marix Evans does refer to the U. …

Hunting ruralities: nature, society and culture in ‘hunt countries’ of England and Wales

The practice of hunting with dogs in the British countryside has received a great deal of political attention over recent years. The election of the New Labour Government in 1997, with a manifesto commitment to allow a free parliamentary vote on hunting, has provided the campaign to abolish hunting with a great deal of momentum. However, a merger of the pro-hunt groups into the Countryside Alliance has created a powerful counter campaign, evidenced by the highly publicised countryside marches of the late 1990s. A key tactic of the Alliance's campaign has involved a key shift in the defence of hunting from the natural to the social realm, with the focus increasingly placed on the claimed socio-cultural contribution of hunting to rural communities. This paper assesses the merits of this claim by providing a critical in-depth exploration of the socio-cultural role of hunting with dogs in areas of the English and Welsh countryside. It does this in two main ways. Firstly, recent discussions of hunting are positioned within a broader social science context of nature–society relations, and consideration is given to the complex connections between hunting, nature and rurality. Secondly, connections between hunting, nature and rural society are examined in greater depth by drawing on key findings from a recent study of the social and cultural role of hunting in four areas of English and Welsh countryside.

Science and the humanities: the case for state humanities councils

Science and the humanities: the case for state humanities councils

The Social Context of Science: Cancer and the Environment

The Social Context of Science: Cancer and the Environment

The Social Context of Science: Cancer and the Environment

Science remains an eminently social institution, though the interactions between science and society are often poorly understood. This article addresses the context of recent efforts to identify environmental contributions to cancer. The authors first examine cancer incidence and discuss how incidence patterns may be related to air pollution and occupational and general toxic chemical and xenestrogen exposures. They then discuss the social context in which cancer research and treatment occurs, including the dominating role of the biomedical model and socioeconomic factors, including regulatory strategies that address single chemicals, corporate conflicts of interest, and the manipulation of public opinion. Last, they consider the broad context out of which cancer arises and discuss the merits of applying the precautionary principle to sustainable social policies. Progress in reducing cancer may be fruitfully made by returning our attention to broad-scale factors such as those affecting the quality of air, water, workplace, household environments, and the global climate.

A day at the museum: science centres and museums play an increasingly important role in bringing science and technology to the public.

Blue, yellow, fluorescent lighting, computer terminals in every corner, exhibits resembling a Fisher Price toy or a wooden building kit—museums and science centres nowadays appear to be a cross between a computer technology exhibition and a child's dream of a playground. They reflect many of the efforts that are currently being devoted to making science and technology interesting for the younger generation, the one that will give rise to the scientists and engineers of the future. But also as science and technology increasingly impact on society, the 'shelf‐life' of formal education is becoming shorter and informal lifelong learning is becoming more important. The result is a flurry of activities instigated by politicians, scientists and educators to bring science to the people and increase their understanding. National Science Week, science buses touring the countryside and visitor days in research institutes are just a few examples of how they are reaching out to the public and, importantly, to the next generation of students. Museums and science centres form a prominent base for the communication of science, but despite their comparatively long history, the art of exhibiting science is relatively in its infancy. Dating back to the late 19th century, museums were then the theme parks of the day and important collections have been amassed in such mighty institutions as London's Science Museum, Munich's Deutsches Museum, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Particularly during the last decade, the USA has pioneered the creation of more informal interactive science centres, most famously with the Exploratorium in San Francisco in 1969. Today, virtually every major American city boasts its own version, some 300 in all. Europe has also witnessed a similar trend, to the extent that the distinction between museums and science centres …