Impure Science

AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge

AvSteven Epstein

Häftad, Engelska, 1998

Del i serien Medicine and Society

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Beskrivning

In the short, turbulent history of AIDS research and treatment, the boundaries between scientist insiders and lay outsiders have been crisscrossed to a degree never before seen in medical history. Steven Epstein's astute and readable investigation focuses on the critical question of "how certainty is constructed or deconstructed," leading us through the views of medical researchers, activists, policy makers, and others to discover how knowledge about AIDS emerges out of what he calls "credibility struggles." Epstein shows the extent to which AIDS research has been a social and political phenomenon and how the AIDS movement has transformed biomedical research practices through its capacity to garner credibility by novel strategies. Epstein finds that nonscientist AIDS activists have gained enough of a voice in the scientific world to shape NIH--sponsored research to a remarkable extent. Because of the blurring of roles and responsibilities, the production of biomedical knowledge about AIDS does not, he says, follow the pathways common to science; indeed, AIDS research can only be understood as a field that is unusually broad, public, and contested.He concludes by analyzing recent moves to democratize biomedicine, arguing that although AIDS activists have set the stage for new challenges to scientific authority, all social movements that seek to democratize expertise face unusual difficulties. Avoiding polemics and accusations, Epstein provides a benchmark account of the AIDS epidemic to date, one that will be as useful to activists, policy makers, and general readers as to sociologists, physicians, and scientists.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:1998-09-15
Mått:152 x 229 x 30 mm
Vikt:680 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Medicine and Society
Antal sidor:480
Förlag:University of California Press
ISBN:9780520214453

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Mer om författaren

Steven Epstein is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, San Diego. The work on which this book is based won the American Sociological Association's award for best dissertation of the year.

Recensioner i media

"As the AIDS movement is showing, people with diseases can play a profound part in saving themselves . . . A perceptive and useful analysis of this revolution in the democratization of medicine."

Innehållsförteckning

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Introduction: Controversy, Credibility, and the Public Character of AIDS ResearchThe Crisis of Credibility and the Rise of the AIDS MovementAnalyzing AIDS ControversiesThe Plan of the BookConceptualizing AIDS: Some Intellectual DebtsPART ONE: THE POLITICS OFCAUSATION1. The Nature of a New Threat The Discovery of a "Gay Disease" (1981-1982)Lifestyle vs. Virus (1982-1983)The Triumph of Retrovirology (1982-1984)2. HIV and the Consolidation of Certainty The Construction of Scientific Proof (1984-1986)HIV as "Obligatory Passage Point"3. Reopening the Causation Controversy From Deafening Silence to the Pages of Science (1987-1988)Consolidation and Refinement (1989-1991)4. The Debate That Wouldn't Die The Controversy Reignites (1991-1992.)The Dynamics of Closure: Whither the Controversy? (1992-1995)Causation and CredibilityPART TWO: THE POLITICS OF TREATMENT5. Points of Departure Targeting a Retrovirus (1984-1986)Clinical Trials Take Center Stage (1986-1987)6. "Drugs into Bodies" Gaining Access (1987-1988)A Knowledge-Empowered Movement7. The Critique of Pure Science AZT and the Politics of Interpretation (1989-1990)Activism and the Manufacture of Knowledge (1989-1991)8. Dilemmas and Divisions in Science and Politics Combination Therapy and the "Surrogate Markers" Debate (1989-1992.)Inside and Outside the System9. Clinical Trials and TribulationsThe Search for New Directions (199z-1993)Living with Uncertainty (1993-1995)Conclusion: Credible Knowledge, Hierarchies ofExpertise, and the Politics of Participation inBiomedicine Science and the Struggle for CredibilityThe Transformation of AIDS ResearchThe Legacy of AIDS ActivismMETHODOLOGICAL APPENDIX NOTES INDEX