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A Framework for Understanding the Politics of Science (Core Tenet #2)

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The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Physical Geography

Abstract

Our second core tenet of Critical Physical Geography contends that environmental science is composed of value-laden choices that do not simply reflect the biophysical world and that such choices produce material consequences. This chapter elaborates these claims through constructing a framework for understanding the politics of environmental science. We identify distinct moments within the scientific process that can be used as entry points for thinking about choices and their consequences. Looking inside the ‘black box’ of science, we explore how the scientific process is political in its theory, data, methods, and intended application. The choices that scientists make about these aspects of the scientific process are products of, and in turn reproduce, particular socio-political values and framings of the world.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Leonora King & Marc Tadaki

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  1. Leonora King
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  2. Marc Tadaki
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Rebecca Lave

  2. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Christine Biermann

  3. Université de Lausanne, Gryon, Switzerland

    Stuart N. Lane

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King, L., Tadaki, M. (2018). A Framework for Understanding the Politics of Science (Core Tenet #2). In: Lave, R., Biermann, C., Lane, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Physical Geography. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71461-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71461-5_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71460-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71461-5

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