Send message to Author

Short abstract:

The paradigm of Politics of Science in China is yet to be established. The discipline of Politics of Science should adopt a political science research approach beyond STS. Efforts should be made to establish a research agenda focusing on the “two-way relationship” between science and politics.

Long abstract:

STS scholars argue that science have political origins, implications, or effects, and thus be political (Brown, 2015). The political aspect of science has inspired STS studies of both interactions between science and politics and their mutual constitution (Jasanoff, 2004). Although several studies on Politics of Science have been conducted in China, they are largely scattered across diverse academic disciplines such as STS, Science Policy, Philosophy of Science, Science Communication, and Sociology of Scientific Knowledge. Ironically, the scholar who wrote the only PhD dissertation on Politics of Science in China (Hu, 2006) has changed her research field after graduation. Consequently, a mature academic community and a universally recognized and distinct paradigm are yet to be established. This article first reviewed the progress and development of Politics of Science in China, and then proposes that the discipline of Politics of Science should adopt a political science research approach beyond STS. Efforts should be made to establish a research agenda focusing on the “two-way relationship” between science and politics. The agenda should include the political analysis of the history of science, deepening the political philosophical study of the relationship between science and power, extending empirical studies in Politics of Science, and establishing a Chinese independent knowledge system school of thought in Politics of Science. My previous study of social history of high-temperature superconductivity research in China is illustrated as a case for the political analysis of the history of science.