The Fate of the Merton Academy in the Age of Commercialization and Scientific Neoliberalism

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Science Policy Group, Faculty, National Research Institute for Science Policy

2 Science Policy Group, Researcher, National Research Institute for Science Policy

3 Economics of Science, Faculty, National Research Institute for Science Policy

Abstract

The historical backbone of the discourse of commercialization of scientific research in the world ‎is tied to the end of the Cold War. At this historic juncture, the institutions that emerged during ‎World War II and later during the Cold War to direct, frame, and manage scientific and ‎technological activities were gradually reconfigured. The neoliberal extremist version of this ‎discourse has been around since the mid-1980s and has left profound changes in the organization ‎and praxis of the institution of science. The most notable of these developments has been the ‎rollback of governments in the widespread financial support of universities and public research. ‎At the same time, in the 1980s in the United States, for the first time in these decades, the ‎amount of private sector support from research exceeded federal support. This paper compares ‎the modern wave of commercialization of scientific research with the norms proposed by ‎renowned American sociologist Robert K Merton to describe the essential virtues of academia. ‎An in-depth analysis of this shows us that the new ethical values resulting from the ‎commercialization of science are in serious conflict with the Merton norms, and so as the wave of ‎commercialization progresses, we must wait for the collapse of Merton academia.‎

Keywords

Strategy for Culture
Volume 15, Issue 57
May 2022
Pages 63-93

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