CRCRTH 649L Scientific & Political Change

Although relatively few Americans have backgrounds in science or engineering, they are increasingly confronted with issues that are technically complex. This course explores the resulting tensions and asks how the needs for scientific expertise and democratic control of science and technology are reconciled. The first half of the course traces the historical development of American science policy and situates this development comparatively. The second half focuses on contemporary controversies, including those over the nature of university-industry relations, patent policy, and the cases of expert/lay disagreements over risk. CRCRTH 649L and PPOL-G 749L are the same course.

3 Credit(s)