University of Massachusetts at Boston
Public Policy Program

Science, Technology, and Public Policy

PPol 749L (cross-listed as CCT 649L)
Fall 2005 Syllabus


Instructor: Peter Taylor, Programs in Public Policy, Critical & Creative Thinking, Science, Technology & Values
Email: peter.taylor@umb.edu
Phone: 617-287-7636
Office: Wheatley 2nd flr 143.09 (near Counseling & School Psychology)
Class meetings: Thursday 6.45-9.15pm in Healey-10-025F (in Public Policy Suite)
Office/phone call hours: Monday & Thursday 5.30-6.30pm by sign up or by arrangement
Course Website: http://www.faculty.umb.edu/peter_taylor/749-05.html
Class email list: Emails sent to ppol749@yahoogroups.com will go to everyone in the course
E-clippings: Clippings from the internet sent to ppol749clips@yahoogroups.com will be archived for all to read at http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/ppol749clips

Catalog description

Prior to WW II, the American government played a relatively small role in the support of science, especially outside of its own institutions. That situation changed dramatically with the war and the Cold War that followed. We explore how these events transformed the role of science in American life, vastly enhancing the prestige of scientists, and shaping the extent and the nature of federal involvement in science. These and later developments, including the commercialization of academic research, raise important questions about the appropriate role of science and scientists in a democracy. In particular: How can we reconcile the need for scientific and technological expertise on the one hand, and for the democratic control of science on the other? We consider different theoretical approaches to this issue, and illustrate the dilemmas it poses with a number of empirical examples.

Course Overview

After an introductory session in which students identify their personal intellectual and professional interests, three class sessions are devoted to addressing a scenario (to be determined in light of the students' interests-see week 2) in the tradition of "Problem-based learning" (PBL). The PBL work allows students to expose and coordinate a range of angles for investigating an issue, practice tools for rapid research, and gain a shared experience to refer back to during the discussions of readings that make up the rest of the course on "Boundaries" (Who is included/excluded in shaping research and its applications? In what ways is that made to matter?) and "Uncertainties" (To whom and in what circumstances is it important to reduce uncertainties in the predictions and implications of research? ). Students also define and undertake individual projects that connect the course themes to their individual interests. Students should consult the supplementary bibliography for the many topics, case studies, and themes that cannot be covered during a single semester.

SECTIONS TO FOLLOW IN SYLLABUS:

PREREQUISITES: Graduate standing or permission of instructor

TEXTS AND MATERIALS

Dickson, D. (1984). The New Politics of Science. New York, Pantheon, reprinted University of Chicago Press, 1988.
On reserve: Jasanoff, S. S., G. E. Markle, et al., Eds. (1995). Handbook of Science and Technology Studies. Thousand Oaks, Sage. Revised edition, 2001.

Readings for the course consist primarily of individual articles and book chapters. Most of these can be downloaded from the Healey Library's Electronic Reserves (marked ERes on the syllabus, docutek.lib.umb.edu/ (path: Electronic reserves and Course Materials | select ppol749, enter password provided by instructor) or e-journals).

Books can be purchased from an online bookstore; for the best prices, see www.addall.com.

ASSESSMENT & REQUIREMENTS

REQUIREMENTS: More detail about the assignments and expectations is provided in the Notes on Teaching/Learning Interactions and Rubric handouts, and will be supplemented when needed by handouts and emails.

Written assignments and presentations (2/3 of grade)
A. Project: A project that draws on the course themes and readings in ways that connect with the student's specific interests. As alternatives to a standard research paper, the project may also take the form of an essay review of related books, a curriculum unit (e.g., in a PBL format), a bibliographic essay to guide future students, or a case study. A sequence of 5 assignments is required-initial description, notes on research and planning, work-in-progress presentation, complete draft report, and final (2500-4000 words) report.
B1. PBL briefing presented in class and handouts (2 assignments).
B2. Three 2 page reflections (450+ words) on the readings for the week (3 assignments).
Participation and contribution to the class process (1/3 of grade)
C. Prepared participation and attendance at class meetings (=14 items)
D. Leading or assisting in leading the discussion for 2 classes (=2 items)
E. Minimum of two in-office or phone conferences on your assignments, project, and discussion leading by weeks 6 and 10 (=2 items)
F. Submission of 3 e-clippings by week 10 to www.yahoogroups.com/group/ppol749clips (=1 item)
G. Peer commentary on another student's draft report (with copy submitted to PT)

TOPICS AT A GLANCE

1 (9/8) Introduction: Students identify personal, intellectual, professional interests in relation to central themes about governance of science
2 (9/15) Problem-based learning unit, week 1 (case to be determined by 9/9)
3 (9/22) Problem-based learning unit, week 2
4 (9/29) Problem-based learning unit, week 3: Presentation of Briefings to Visitors
BOUNDARIES -- Who is included/excluded in shaping research and its applications? In what ways is that made to matter?
5 (10/6) Boundaries 1: Ideals of science and politics
6 (10/13) Boundaries 2: Science and politics in practice (Post WW2 US governance of science)
UNCERTAINTIES -- To whom and in what circumstances is it important to reduce uncertainties in the predictions and implications of research?
7 (10/20) Uncertainties 1: Risk
8 (10/27) Boundaries 3: Corporate direction of science subject to adversarial processes in courts and government regulation
9 (11/3) Boundaries 4/Uncertainties 2: Analyzing shifts in larger cultural conditions, I (Comparative responses to genetic engineering)
10 (11/10) Work-in-progress Presentations on Student Projects
11 (11/17) Boundaries 5: Analyzing shifts in larger cultural conditions, II (Media representations)
12 (12/1) Uncertainties 3: Humans as experimental subjects
Uncertainties 4: Social negotiations around genetic screening
13 (12/8) Taking Stock of Course: Where have we come and what do we need to learn to go further?

ACCOMMODATIONS: Sections 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 offer guidelines for curriculum modifications and adaptations for students with documented disabilities. If applicable, students may obtain adaptation recommendations from the Ross Center (287-7430). The student must present these recommendations to each professor within a reasonable period, preferably by the end of the Drop/Add period.

Students are advised to retain a copy of this syllabus in personal files for use when applying for certification, licensure, or transfer credit.
This syllabus is subject to change, but workload expectations will not be increased after the semester starts. The course website gives the most up-to-date version. (Version 18 October 05)

SCHEDULE OF CLASSES

**Detailed instructions for preparing for PBL unit and other classes and additional readings marked "TBA" will be distributed through handouts (also posted on the course website) and emails**

Class 1 (9/8) Introduction: Students identify personal, intellectual, professional interests in relation to central themes about governance of science
Readings: Lewontin, "The politics of science," Sclove, "Town Meetings on Technology"
Preparation: Instructions to be emailed or downloaded.

Introduction to: Course description; Discussion of responses to Lewontin & Sclove; Personal, intellectual and professional development plans; Introduction to fellow students and their concerns; Intro to Problem-based learning and choice of scenario for classes 2-4.

* Possible scenarios include: 1. Public policy dimensions of a controversy between health research on chronic diseases that focuses on adult lifestyle changes and research that exposes the effects of fetal and early child development; 2. What results have pre-K (Head Start) educational programs achieved and in what ways?; 3. What is going on in the current push for newborn genetic screening to be made uniform across states and expanded from in some places only 4 tests to 29?; 4. How to respond to the politicization of scientific advice under the current federal administration; 5. The public policy significance of competing (and uncertain) views of the development of sexual orientation; 6. Science-policy connections to improve responses to extreme climatic events.

Homework tasks include: Prepare for Problem-based learning unit, review the syllabus and overview, get set-up to use the internet and computers, sign up for first conference, etc.

Class 2 (9/15) Problem-based learning unit, week 1 -- case to be determined & distributed by email by 9/9

Class 3 (9/22) Problem-based learning unit, week 2

Class 4 (9/29) Problem-based learning unit, week 3: Presentation of Briefings to visitors
*A* Asmts due: Present briefing & submit related handouts

Class 5 (10/6) Boundaries 1: Ideals of science and politics
Readings: Lewontin, "The politics of science," Sclove, ""Town Meetings on Technology," " 'In every sense the experts' ," "Technological politics," Merton, "Science and Democratic Social Structure," Kitcher, 85-108, 117-135, Winner, "Do artifacts," Dickson, "Towards a democratic strategy"
(guidesheet for class discussion)
Homework: Exercise towards an initial formulation of your course project.

Class 6 (10/13) Boundaries 2: Science and politics in practice (Post WW2 US governance of science)
Readings: Dickson, " Introduction & Towards a new politics," Bush, "Endless frontier," Elzinga and Jamison, "Changing policy agendas," Slaughter and Rhoades, "Emergence of Competitiveness Research," Robinson, "Forty Signs," Smith, "Post-war consensus"
Additional: Guston, "Understanding the social contract"

*A* Asmt due: Initial description of proposed project
*A* First conference must be completed before class 6 to discuss the course thus far, your assignments, initial ideas for projects, and your discussion leading
*A* Schedule second conference before class 10 to discuss progress on your projects and incorporation of heuristics from the course

Class 7 (10/20) Uncertainties 1: Risk
Readings: Proctor, "Natural carcinogens," Jasanoff, "Harmonization," Myers, "Rise of the precautionary principle," Yearley, "Figuring out risks," Magnus, "Food for thought"

Class 8 (10/27) Boundaries 3: Science subject to adversarial processes in courts and government regulation
Readings: Laudan, "Demise of demarcation," Jasanoff, "Judicial Fictions", Cole, "More Than Zero," Edmond & Mercer, "The politics of jury competence"

*A* Asmt due: Notes on research and planning for your project

Class 9 (11/3) Boundaries 4/Uncertainties 2: Analyzing shifts in larger cultural conditions, 1 (Comparative responses to genetic engineering)
Readings: Healey, "The 2003 UK GM debate," Jasanoff, " Controlling narratives," Magnus, "Food for thought," Yoxen, "Life as a productive force," Bereano, "Trans-Atlantic Food Fight," Midgley, "On the origin"

Class 10 (11/10) Work-in-progress Presentations on Student Projects
with peer/instructor evaluations
*A* Asmt due: Work-in-progress Presentation on Project


Jan Coe, " What is the ideal consensus conference, and how would we recognize it if we saw one?"
Ali Kinchler, " Sharing the Wealth: Striking a Compromise Between Digital Copyright Laws and the Public"
Mark Pearrow, " Computational Neurotoxicology and Public Policy "
Michelle Hardy, "No fossil fuels"
Melanie Griffin, " Barriers to Full Implementation of Adaptive Management in Federal and Interstate Fishery Management Regimes "
Elliot Frank, Debates over evolution: a case study in improving science education and policy in the USA

Class 11 (11/17) Boundaries 5: Analyzing shifts in larger cultural conditions, 2 (Media representations)
Readings: Edwards, "Terminator," Gieryn, "Balancing acts," Cartwright, "Community and the public body," Frayling, "Curse of the scientist!"
Preparation: Bring DVD or video cued to a clip on representations of science's social implications and prepare a short spoken analysis to introduce that clip.

No class, Thursday 11/24

Class 12 (12/1) Uncertainties 3: Humans as experimental subjects & Social negotiations around genetic screening
Readings: Chase, "False Correlations," Harkness, "Vivisectors"
Rapp, "Moral pioneers," Paul, "The history of newborn phenylketonuria screening," Yoxen, "Gene Therapy"
(reading guide)

*A* Asmt due: Complete Draft of Project Report (2 copies and by email attachment or on disk)

Class 13 (12/8) Taking Stock of Course: Where have we come and what do we need to learn to go further?
Readings: Taylor, "We know more," "Epilogue"
Activities:
Review and Revision of Personal, Intellectual & Professional development Plans
Official and narrative Course evaluations

*A* Asmt due: Peer commentary on another student's draft report (with copy submitted to PT)

12/15
*A* Asmt due: Final version of Project Report



COURSE READINGS

Vannevar Bush, Science: The Endless Frontier (1945), 30 pp. ERes

Bereano, P. (2003). "Trans-Atlantic Food Fight." Gene Watch 16(3), www.gene-watch.org/genewatch/articles/16-3bereano.html (viewed 4 Sept. 05)

Cartwright, L. (2000). "Community and the public body in breast cancer media activism." Wild Science: Reading Feminism, Medicine, and the Media. J. Marchessault and K. Sawchuk. London, Routledge: 120-138. ERes

Chase, A. (1977). "False Correlations = Real Deaths," in The Legacy of Malthus. NY: Knopf, 201-225, ERes

Cole, S. (2005). "More Than Zero: Accounting for Error in Latent Fingerprint Identification." Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 95(3): 985-1078.

Dickson, D. (1984). Introduction & Towards a new politics of science. The New Politics of Science. New York, Pantheon: 3-55.

Dickson, D. (1984). Towards a democratic strategy for science. The New Politics of Science. New York, Pantheon: 307-336.

Edmond, G. and D. Mercer (1999). The politics of jury competence, with commentaries by David Bernstein and Ian Freckelton and a reply by the authors. Technology and Public Participation. B. Martin. Wollongong, Australia, Science and Technology Studies, University of Wollongong.

Edwards, P. E. (1997). The terminator meets commander data: Cyborg identity in the New World Order. Changing Life: Genomes, Ecologies, Bodies, Commodities. P. J. Taylor, S. E. Halfon and P. E. Edwards. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press: 14-35.

Elzinga, A. and A. Jamison (1995). "Changing policy agendas in science and technology." Handbook of Science and Technology Studies. S. S. Jasanoff, G. E. Markle, J. C. Petersen and T. J. Pinch. Thousand Oaks, Sage: 572-597.

Frayling, C. (2005). "Curse of the scientist!" New Scientist(24 September) .

Thomas F. Gieryn, "Balancing Acts: Science, Enola Gay and History Wars at the Smithsonian," in Politics of Display: Museums, Science, Culture (Routledge, 1998), 199-227. ERes.

David H. Guston, "Understanding the Social Contract for Science," Between Politics and Science (Cambridge, 1999), 37-63. Eres

Harkness, J. M. (1994). "Vivisectors and vivishooters: Experimentation on American prisoners in the early decades of the twentieth century"

Healey, P. (2004). "The 2003 UK GM crops debate." http://www.stage-research.net/STAGE/documents/28_UK_GM_%20Debate_final.pdf .

Sheila Jasanoff, "Harmonization--The Politics of Reasoning Together," The Politics of Chemical Risk, R. Bal and W. Halffman, eds. (Kluwer, 1998), 173-94. ERes

Jasanoff, S. (2001). "Judicial Fictions: The Supreme Court's Quest For Good Science." Society 38(4): 27-36.

Jasanoff, S. (2005). Controlling narratives. Designs on Nature: Science and Democracy in Europe and the United States. Princeton, Princeton University Press: 42-67. ERes

Kitcher, P. (2001). Science, Truth, and Democracy. New York, Oxford University Press, 85-108, 117-135. (Some on Eres)

Larry Laudan, "Demise of the Demarcation Problem," in Michael Ruse, ed., But is it Science? (Prometheus, 1988), 337-50. ERes

Lewontin, R. (2002). "The politics of science." The New York Review of Books 49(8). www.nybooks.com.eresources.lib.umb.edu/articles/15366

David Magnus and Arthur Caplan, "Food for Thought: The Primacy of the Moral in the GMO Debates," in Michael Ruse and David Castle, eds., Genetically Modified Foods: (Prometheus, 2002), 80-87. ERes

Midgley, M. (2004). "On the origin of creationism." New Scientist(25 Dec.): 29.

Myers, N. (2004). "The rise of the precautionary principle: A social movement gains strength." Multinational Monitor(September): 9-15; www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2004/09012004/september04corp1.html (viewed 14 Aug. 05)

Paul, D. (1997). "Appendix 5. The history of newborn phenylketonuria screening in the U.S.," in N. A. Holtzman and M. S. Watson (Eds.), Promoting Safe and Effective Genetic Testing in the United States. Washington, DC: NIH-DOE Working Group on the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Human Genome Research, 137-159. biotech.law.lsu.edu/research/fed/tfgt/appendix5.htm (viewed 14 Jan 2004)

Robert Proctor. "Natural Carcinogens and the Myth of Toxic Hazards," Cancer Wars: How Politics Shapes What We Know and Don't Know about Cancer (Basic Books, 1995), 133-52. E-Res

Rapp, R. "Moral Pioneers: Women, Men & Fetuses." Women & Health 13 (1/2, 1988): 101-116. ERes

Robinson, K. S. (2004). Forty Signs of Rain. New York, Bantam Dell: 290-297. ERes

Sclove, R. (1995). 'In every sense the experts' Strong democracy and technology. Democracy and Technology. New York, Guilford: 25-57. ERes

Sclove, R. E. (2003). Technological politics as if democracy really mattered. Technology and the Future. A. Teich. Belmont, CA, Thompson/Wadsworth: 91-108. ERes

Sclove, R. E. (n.d.). "Town Meetings on Technology." (www.loka.org/pubs/techrev.htm).

Sheila Slaughter and Gary Rhodes, "The Emergence of a Competitiveness Research and Development Policy Coalition and the Commercialization of Academic Science and Technology," in P. Mirowski and E-M. Sent, eds., Science Bought and Sold (Chicago, 2002), 69-108. ERes

Bruce L.R. Smith, American Science Policy Since World War II (Brookings, 1990), 36-72. ERes

Taylor, P. J. (2002). "We know more than we are, at first, prepared to acknowledge: Journeying to develop critical thinking." www.faculty.umb.edu/peter_taylor/journey.html viewed 11/1/03.

Taylor, P. J. (2005). "Epilogue," in Unruly Complexity: Ecology, Interpretation, Engagement. Chicago, University of Chicago Press: 203-213. ERes

Yearley, S. (2005). Figuring out risks. Making Sense of Science: Understanding the Social Study of Science. London, Sage: 129-142. ERes

Yoxen, E. (1986). Gene Therapy. Unnatural Selection? London, Heinemann: 157-173. ERes

+ Others to be selected from bibliography (www.faculty.umb.edu/pjt/749-05Biblio.doc) & elsewhere