This book can be characterized as a "liberal" counterpart of the critique. The authors share the radicals' insistence that even at its most abstract, science is colored by context. They also share the distaste for some of the directions and effects of science and technology Like the radicals, most of the contributors to the book are alarmed by the increased penetration of corporate interests and the military into universities and by the inadequacies of existing mechanisms for ensuring the congruence of scientific effort with long-term social needs. The book's solutions, however, are more comfortable and conventional than the radicals': pluralism, public participation, open communication, accountability to democratic institutions and responsive systems for planning and regulation.
The group of political scientists, philosophers, lawyers, and one or two natural scientists assembled by Malcolm Goggin—of the Center for Public Policy at the University of Houston-University Park—met several times to discuss their chapters and ...
