Institutions and Ignorance: New Directions in the Political Economy of Science

Abstract

Over the past decade or so, scholars have suggested that ignorance is an inevitable product of scientific practices in numerous fields (e.g. microbiology, chemistry, medical sciences, entomology, economics, and big-data driven sciences). The broad consensus among scholars is that ignorance is institutionally constructed and reflects varied power struggles. In turn, ignorance in science often reiteratively contributes to social inequality. Lack of knowledge of complex problems often reflects scientists’ lack of engagement with local knowledge practitioners (Irwin and Wynne, 2003; Kleinman and Suryanarayanan, 2013; Suryanarayanan and Kleinman, 2016; Wynne, 1996). In a more macroscopic view, the concept of “undone science” has highlighted the discrepancy between the outcomes of institutionalized science and civil society’s needs, asking us to consider who has the power to determine what we know, what we should know, and what we should ignore (Frickel et al., 2010; Frickel and Moore, 2006; Frickel and Vincent, 2007; Hess, 2007, 2016; Moore et al., 2011). Scholars have also introduced case studies demonstrating how governmental or financial organizations strategically use the rhetoric of “unknowns” to maintain their reasons for existence and secure positions of power, using ignorance as a strategic resource (Davies and McGoey, 2012; McGoey, 2007, 2012). In this vein, this panel seeks to present research on the social construction of ignorance that can contribute to the “new political economy of science” (Frickel and Moore 2006). We invite papers that draw on institutional, organizational, and political theories to understand processes, mechanisms, and consequences of the social construction of “unknowns” in a variety of social realms.

Chairs

• Daniel Lee Kleinman, Boston University

• June Jeon, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Discussant

• Daniel Lee Kleinman, Boston University

Individual Presentations

• On Not Seeing Like a State: Ignorance Production at the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management - Scott Frickel, Brown University

• All About That Baseline: The Politics of Ignorance About Pre-Fracking Water Conditions - Abby Kinchy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

• Boundaries of Responsible Knowledge: The Positive Re-valuation of Ignorance in Medicine - Kellie Owens, University of Pennsylvania

• Spinning Our Wheels: The Role of Structural Ignorance in Community Public Health Response - Anna Geltzer, University of Notre Dame

• Scientific Habitus: Power and Ignorance in the Scientific Institution - June Jeon, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Session Organizers

• Daniel Lee Kleinman, Boston University

• June Jeon, University of Wisconsin-Madison