Nelkin, Dorothy

Nelkin, Dorothy. 1977. Scientists and professional responsibility The experience of American ecologists. Social Studies of Science 7 75-95. 

Nelkin, Dorothy. Selling Science How the Press Covers Science and Technology. W.H. Freeman and Company, New York. 1995. 

Nelkin, Dorothy and Michael S. Brown. 1984. Workers at Ride Voices from the Workplace. Chicago University of Chicago Press. 

Nelkin, Dorothy. 1971. The Politics of Housing Innovation The Fate of the Civilian Industrial Technology Program. Ithaca Cornell University Press. Nelkin, Dorothy. 1972. The University and Military Research Moral Politics at MIT. Ithaca Cornell University Press. 

Dorothy Nelkin Following up on your last point on social policy, from the material that I read in sociology and social policy, what I worry about most is the naturalistic fallacy the move from is to ought . Yet after the last session, I was told that this is no longer a problem, that nobody worries about this anymore. So is this just simply a problem of my philosophical naivety, or does evolutionary psychology encourage the naturalistic fallacy ... 

Dorothy Nelkin Well, first of all as a social scientist I feel that humour is serious. It is also a pedagogical device to get people to listen at the end of a long meeting. Studies of the sociology and psychology of humour suggests that it s serious, as social commentary and an indication of public attitudes. 

Dorothy Nelkin Is there a gene for humour There s a gene for happiness - there must be one for humour. You know the only way I can figure out how to counter the impact of reductionism is to make people aware of the absurdity of what is happening, because certain assumptions become so embedded in culture and the way we think about things that they are not raised to the level of consciousness. Once people are aware then there s hope of thinking more seriously about the policy consequences. 

Dorothy Nelkin I think in the long run it s disastrous for science, yes, absolutely. 

Dorothy Nelkin They clearly do, and I ve made a kind of a personal policy to be receptive and to talk to journalists, but not necessarily to give them soundbites but to elucidate the background issues. I m not very good at soundbites. 

Dorothy Nelkin The gene is a malleable image. It has appeal because it can be interpreted in many different ways, but at a time with cost constraints on institutions and demands for accountability, for categorisation, then biological explanations are convenient. As I mentioned when referring to the criminal justice system, they can be used to mitigate punishment or to put people up for ever - it depends on policy agendas. 

Dorothy Nelkin Current industry/university relationships developed in the United States following 1980 legislation. One problem is that universities have lost their ability to stand back and be critical. And of course, conflicts of interest are inevitable. 

Dorothy Nelkin New York University, 269 Mercer Street, New York, NY 10003, USA... 

It is not necessary for the theory of wage compensation that workers be aware of its existence, yet it would help. After all, if risk and pay are tradeoffs in the labor market, and if workers express their preferences by choosing among different types of jobs, it would stand to reason that many workers on many occasions would have a glimmer of this. Yet the historical and sociological literature that describes workers response to risk fails to disclose this. The most detailed treatment of workers attitudes on these matters is Workers at Risk by Dorothy Nelkin and Michael S. Brown (1984). They interviewed in great detail 75 workers... 

Jonathan Allen, ed., March 4 Scientists, Students, and Society (Cambridge MIT Press, 1970) Dorothy Nelkin, The University and Military Research Moral... 

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