Definition
The “social contract of science” is a metaphor used to characterize the relationship between the state/society and the scientific system. When changes in this relationship are discussed, a distinction is often made between an “old” or “traditional” social contract on the one side and an “emerging,” “new,” or “revised” social contract on the other (e.g., Gibbons 1999; Guston and Keniston 1994a; Guston 2000; Martin and Etzkowitz 2001; Nowotny et al. 2001; Van der Meulen 1998). This entry will outline the main characteristics of both the “traditional” and the “emerging” social contract and briefly discuss some limitations of this framework.
The Traditional Social Contract of Science
The traditional social contract has been described in the following terms: “Government promises to fund the basic science that peer reviewers find most worthy of support, and scientists promise that the research will be performed well and...
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Mejlgaard, N., Aagaard, K. (2017). The Social Contract of Science. In: Shin, J., Teixeira, P. (eds) Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_428-1
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