Industry Induces Academic Science to Know Less about More

How does collaboration between academic research and industry shape science? This article argues that companies' relative indifference to theory nudges their academic partners toward novel, theoretically unanticipated experiments. The article then evaluates this proposition using fieldwork, arc...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of sociology 2010-09, Vol.116 (2), p.389-452
Main Author: EVANS, James A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Apathy
Center and Periphery
Collaboration
Cooperation
Enterprises
Experiments
Field work
Fieldwork
Flowers & plants
Government Spending
Industrial research
Industry
Knowledge
Plant ecology
Public expenditure
Scientific communities
Sociology
Sociology of knowledge and ethics
Sociology of knowledge and sociology of culture
Sociology of science
Sponsorship
Universities
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:How does collaboration between academic research and industry shape science? This article argues that companies' relative indifference to theory nudges their academic partners toward novel, theoretically unanticipated experiments. The article then evaluates this proposition using fieldwork, archival materials, and panel models of all academic research using the popular plant model Arabidopsis thaliana and the companies that support that research. Findings suggest that industry partnerships draw high-status academics away from confirming theories and toward speculation. For the network of scientific ideas surrounding Arabidopsis, industry sponsorship weaves discoveries around the periphery into looser, more expansive knowledge. Government funding plays a complementary role, sponsoring focused scientific activity in dense hubs that facilitate scientific community and understanding. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:0002-9602
1537-5390
DOI:10.1086/653834