Intellectual Freedom of Academic Scientists: Cases of Political Challenges Involving
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Intellectual Freedom of Academic Scientists: Cases of Political Challenges Involving Federally Sponsored Research on National Environmental Policies Jeffrey C. Sun Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2012 © 2012 Jeffrey C. Sun All rights reserved ABSTRACT Intellectual Freedom of Academic Scientists: Cases of Political Challenges Involving Federally Sponsored Research on National Environmental Policies Jeffrey C. Sun This study contributes to the literature on the academic profession’s intellectual freedom. Drawing significantly on two methodological approaches, comparative case study and grounded theory, this dissertation examines three controversies in which government officials challenged academic scientists’ federally sponsored research, which had implications for national environmental policies. To structure this examination, I used a two-part framework. For the first part, I investigated the evolving interpretations of events and actors’ interests, which revealed the tactics and pressures employed by government officials when challenging the academic scientists’ federally sponsored research. For the second part, I used Freidson’s theory of professional dominance to help us understand how and in what ways institutionalized arrangements within society supported the academic profession’s autonomy and authority over its work. This analysis identified the means by which the academic scientists in my three cases exerted some degree of control over scientific decisions regarding the research assumptions, methods, and analyses of their findings. The study’s key findings are presented in the form of five research claims: First, the government challengers may try – sometimes successfully – to exercise their influence over indirect participants in the federally funded research in an attempt to control the dissemination of the federally sponsored research findings. Second, the government challengers, though not scientists themselves, relied heavily on their own judgment to declare publicly the kinds of activities that can and cannot count as legitimate scientific research, rather than relying on the traditional scientific peer-review process. Third, academic scientists may involve members of the public in the dispute. When that happens, the public may help decide whether government officials or academic scientists are better equipped to address the scientific matters associated with the federal policy. Fourth, academic scientists’ political allies can support academic scientists’ efforts to defend their research within the policymakers’ setting. Fifth, academic scientists may assert academic conventions (e.g., peer review) as the standard (or possibly as the preferred) practice through which to evaluate science, even when government challengers question the validity of those conventions. Placed in context of the extant literature, these claims, taken together, suggest that the government officials tried to take actions that exceed their professional competence, specifically as boundary breakers who attempted to infiltrate the jurisdictional responsibilities of the academic scientists. In addition, despite the government officials’ attempts to engage in professional boundary-crossing activities, the academic scientists asserted institutionalized practices and standards of the profession (e.g., peer review and open dialogue) and drew on the assistance of external actors (i.e., members of the public and political allies) as countervailing forces to exert control over their research. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I: OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH ........................................................................ 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................................... 4 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................................... 9 The Cases .................................................................................................................................. 10 Sewage Sludge Case .............................................................................................................. 11 Climate Change Case............................................................................................................. 15 Salvage Logging Case ........................................................................................................... 19 Significance of the Case Representations .............................................................................. 22 Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................................. 23 Part 1: Government Challenges ............................................................................................. 23 Part 2: Academic Scientists’ Responses ................................................................................ 26 Combining the Evolving Interpretations & Interests Frame and Freidson’s Theory of Professional Dominance ........................................................................................................ 30 Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 32 Overarching Research Question ................................................................................................... 32 Research Sub-questions ................................................................................................................ 32 Definitions ................................................................................................................................. 33 Organization of this Study ......................................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER II: CONCEPTUALIZING “GOVERNMENT CHALLENGES TO ACADEMIC SCIENTISTS’ FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH” ....................................................... 36 Overview ................................................................................................................................... 36 The Social Contract ............................................................................................................... 37 Three Frames of Government Challenges ................................................................................. 39 Unified Interest Frame ........................................................................................................... 39 i Competing Interests Frame .................................................................................................... 47 Evolving Interpretations and Interests Frame ........................................................................ 61 Proposing the Evolving Interpretations and Interests Frame .................................................... 72 Chapter Summary & Conclusion .............................................................................................. 76 CHAPTER III: CONCEPTUALIZING “EXERTING CONTROL OVER RESEARCH” .......... 80 Overview ................................................................................................................................... 80 Prior Frameworks ...................................................................................................................... 82 Internal Characteristics .......................................................................................................... 83 External Factors ..................................................................................................................... 90 Conceptual Omissions ........................................................................................................... 95 Searching for a More Comprehensive Framework ................................................................... 96 Academic Profession’s Work Autonomy .............................................................................. 96 Sociology of the Professions ................................................................................................. 98 Freidson’s Theory of Professional Dominance ................................................................... 100 Illustrating the Framework for the Academic Profession’s Responses ............................... 111 Chapter Summary and Conclusion .......................................................................................... 112 CHAPTER IV: STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS ................................................................ 115 Overview ................................................................................................................................. 115 Conceptual Framework and Research Questions .................................................................... 115 Case Selection Criteria ............................................................................................................ 122 Federal Government Challenges ......................................................................................... 123 University-based Academic Scientists Who Work for American Universities in the United States ...................................................................................................................................