1st Edition

Science and Ideology A Comparative History

By Mark Walker Copyright 2003
    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    Does science work best in a democracy? Were 'Soviet' or 'Nazi' science fundamentally different from science in the USA? These questions have been passionately debated in the recent past. Particular developments in science took place under particular political regimes, but they may or may not have been directly determined by them.
    Science and Ideology brings together a number of comparative case studies to examine the relationship between science and the dominant ideology of a state. Cybernetics in the USA is compared to France and the Soviet Union. Postwar Allied science policy in occupied Germany is juxtaposed to that in Japan. The essays are narrowly focussed, yet cover a wide range of countries and ideologies. The collection provides a unique comparative history of scientific policies and practices in the 20th century.

    Chapter 1 Introduction, Marie Walker; Chapter 2 Science and Totalitarianism, Yakov M. Rabkin, Elena Z. Mirskaya; Chapter 3 “Ideologically Correct” Science, Michael Gordin, Walter Grunden, Mark Walker, Zuoyue Wang; Chapter 4 From Communications Engineering to Communications Science, David Mindell, Jérôme Segal, Slava Gerovitch; Chapter 5 Science Policy in Post-1945 West Germany and Japan, Richard H. Beyler, Morris F. Low; Chapter 6 The Transformation of Nature under Hitler and Stalin, Paul Josephson, Thomas Zeller; Chapter 7 Legitimation through Use, Burghard Ciesla, Helmuth Trischler; Chapter 8 Weaving Networks, Uwe Hoßfeld, Jürgen John, Rüdiger Stutz; Chapter 9 Friedrich Möglich, Dieter Hoffmann, Mark Walker;

    Biography

    Mark Walker teaches modern European history and the history of science and technology at Union College in Schenectady, NY. He has published several books and articles on science under National Socialism, including German National Socialism and the Quest for Nuclear Power, 1939–1949 (1989) and Nazi Science: Myth, Truth, and the German Atom Bomb (1995).