Technoscience in the 3rd World
What global system did colonial exploitation help create?
Capitalist world system based on the asymmetry of economic and political power, fostering inequality between the north and the south
Without this, lab members could not have confidence in their data
What is an effective control?
Without the protection of this, a company may hesitate before investing millions of dollars (euros)
What is a patent?
What concept do Kleinman and Vallas introduce to describe the relationship between universities and industry?
Asymmetrical convergence, meaning that universities and industries are becoming interconnected, but the exchange of norms and values is uneven: desire for profit dominates.
Although this may be ideal in science, this norm is not often fully realized
What is openness?
Why do some argue traditional knowledge is not “scientific”?
Some claim that traditional knowledge doesn’t follow Western scientific methods
This reduces the amount of tacit knowledge and discretionary decision-making required to solve many routine problems
What is standardized technologies?
This enzyme is an example of intellectual property
What is taq?
What do they mean by a “hybrid knowledge regime”?
A hybrid regime is when two previously separate domains, like universities and industries, start adopting elements of each other but still keep parts of their own identity.
Kleinman argues that increasing commercialization pressures blur this boundary central to Merton’s norms of science.
What is the boundary between public science and private industry?
What is “biocolonialism”?
The colonial exploitation of biological and genetic resources from the South, to accomplish the North interests and purposes
Many (industrial) research tools have become this, leading to scientists typically assuming they work properly
What are black boxes
The 1980 Supreme Court case Diamond v. Chakrabarty established that these could be patented, marking a turning point in the commercialization of biology.
What are living organisms?
What are the two main consequences of convergence according to the authors?
Traditional academic values (freedom, curiosity, collaboration) sometimes survive better in corporate labs than in universities.
As both sides imitate each other, their overlap, so science in universities and firms becomes hard to separate creating at the same time internal tension.
The idea expressed by Kleinman and Vallas that scientists now face pressure to commercialize, get funding, and act entrepreneurial rather than freely explore ideas can be translated into which norms (counternorm)?
Interestedness
Were botanical gardens purely scientific?
No, they were tools of imperial expansion. Botanical gardens helped colonizers adapt plants from colonies for use in other regions, making agriculture and trade more profitable for the empire and enabling the global transfer of energy, manpower, and capital on a massive scale.
This term describes the process through which scientific discoveries are treated more like commodities rather than shared freely.
What is commercialization of science?
This exemption allows researchers to circumvent patents for the purposes of study
What is experimental use exemption?
What is the U-shaped pattern described by Kleinman and Vallas?
It means that support for academic practices (like publishing) varies by firm size and stability: Mid-sized, insecure firms → most commercial and restrictive (least academic)
Which norm is violated with biocolonialism?
Communality
(European colonial powers treated nature in the Global South as something free for them to take, while in the Global North, they treated the same kinds of resources and knowledge as private property that could be owned, patented, and sold)
According to Kleinman, D.L. (2003), who defines “knowledge” and “property”? And which are the consequences?
The Western intellectual property system decides what counts as an invention and who can own it. As a result, indigenous knowledge is excluded and it is treated as not property at all or as property of lower value. The outcome is a global “property rights hierarchy” where the Global North controls scientific knowledge.
This concept describes the transformation of biological knowledge from a collective scientific good into something that must be licensed/purchased/legally defended
What is the privatization of knowledge?
This independent, non-profit organization was established to administer patents and licenses resulting from research discoveries brought to it by the University of Wisconsin.
What is WARF?
What are the four main reasons why the boundary between academia and industry has become increasingly blurred?
Mobility of scientists across and between the two realms: This exchange spreads norms and practices across both sides
Legitimacy pressures: Companies want to look credible and innovative to investors, so they: hire famous (“star”) scientists and publish research in top academic journals.
Universities face pressure to prove their economic relevance, so they emphasize their contributions to private-sector growth.
Each side keeps its core identity → Universities still play the role of educators and producers of knowledge. Firms still focus on making and selling products for profit → Even though they’re converging, their roots and social missions remain different.
Asymmetry remains →The profit motive dominates this relationship: Firms use academic norms to increase profit, while universities adopt commercial practices because public funding has declined
Can you think about other norms related to these articles?
Free answer