Author Description

An important new field, the social studies of science as an institutionalized research specialty now claims the attention of scholars both in the United States and Europe, as this important contribution shows. The sociology of science is expanding rapidly to all social science as policy makers see its potential for resolving problems dealing with the social aspects of science. Its further importance is shown in this collection of detailed national reviews of research in the specialty from all European countries with a history of significant research in the field. The countries reported on are West Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Italy, Great Britain, Poland, and the Soviet Union. The contributors are all well-established scholars. In addition to reporting on the state of the discipline, the contributors have compiled comprehensive bibliographical source materials, which have increased rapidly in the last decade and hence may not be familiar to many researchers in other countries. In the first part of this volume, the founding father” of the sociology of science, Robert K. Merton, gives the history of the specialty. Not uncharacteristically, he raises questions on every page, the implications of which will provide abundant research projects and dissertation topics for researchers and their students.