Description
Book Synopsis The distinction between basic and applied research was central to twentieth-century science and policymaking, and if this framework has been contested in recent years, it nonetheless remains ubiquitous in both scientific and public discourse. Employing a transnational, diachronic perspective informed by historical semantics, this volume traces the conceptual history of the basic–applied distinction from the nineteenth century to today, taking stock of European developments alongside comparative case studies from the United States and China. It shows how an older dichotomy of pure and applied science was reconceived in response to rapid scientific progress and then further transformed by the geopolitical circumstances of the postwar era.
Trade Review “Overall, this edited collection represents a greatly enriching contribution to conceptual history that raises questions of methodology and concepts and analyses these successfully from various national perspectives.” • NTM History of Science, Technology & Medicine
“The great merit of the editors’ pluralist approach is that they allow a range of distinguished international contributors free rein to discuss the topics in depth for the United States, Germany, and Britain, with invaluable comparative discussion of Hungary and China too…a rich and intriguing Collection.” • Isis
“This is an important and timely contribution to the conceptual history of science in the twentieth century, with a laudably thorough discussion of methodological and conceptual concerns.” • Julian Bauer, European University Association
“Concepts reflect ideologies and policies as much as they shape them, bridging the gap between expectations and reality. This transnational probe into the "basic/applied" rhetoric of science policy discourse is a unique and overdue analysis that will contribute to our understanding of past and present relations among science, innovation and the political contexts in which they develop.” • Peter Weingart, Bielefeld University
Table of Contents List of Figures
Preface
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Why Do Concepts Matter in Science Policy?
Désirée Schauz and David Kaldewey
PART I: GENEALOGIES OF SCIENCE POLICY DISCOURSES
Chapter 1. Categorizing Science in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century Britain
Robert Bud
Chapter 2. Professional Devotion, National Needs, Fascist Claims, and Democratic Virtues: The Language of Science Policy in Germany
Désirée Schauz and Gregor Lax
Chapter 3. Transforming Pure Science into Basic Research: The Language of Science Policy in the United States
David Kaldewey and Désirée Schauz
PART II: CONCEPTUAL SYNCHRONIZATION AND CULTURAL VARIATION
Chapter 4. Fundamental Research and New Scientific Arrangements for the Development of Britain’s Colonies after 1940
Sabine Clarke
Chapter 5. Basic Research in the Max Planck Society: Science Policy in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1945–1970
Carola Sachse
Chapter 6. Beyond the Basic/Applied Distinction?: The Scientific-Technological Revolution in the German Democratic Republic, 1945–1989
Manuel Schramm
Chapter 7. Applied Science in Stalin’s Time: Hungary, 1945–1953
György Péteri
Chapter 8. Theory Attached to Practice: Chinese Debates over Basic Research from Thought Remolding to the Bomb, 1949–1966
Zuoyue Wang
PART III: OUTLOOK
Chapter 9. The Language of Science Policy in the Twenty-First Century: What Comes after Basic and Applied Research?
Tim Flink and David Kaldewey
Indexes
