Behind the headlines of our time stands an unobtrusive army of science
advisors. Panels of scientific, medical, and engineering experts
evaluate the safety of the food we eat, the drugs we take, and the cars
we drive. But despite the enormous influence of science advice, its
authority is often problematic, and struggles over expert advice are
thus a crucial aspect of contemporary politics. Science on Stage is a
theoretically informed and empirically grounded study of the social
process through which the credibility of expert advice is produced,
challenged, and sustained.
Building on the sociology of Erving Goffman, the author analyzes science
advice as a form of performance, examining how advisory bodies work to
bring authoritative advice to the public stage. From this perspective,
advisory bodies emerge as performers who engage in impression
management: they selectively reveal and conceal themselves, actively
presenting some things to their audiences while hiding others
"backstage."
The book demonstrates that techniques for information control--including
stagecraft, strategic self-presentation, and unauthorized disclosures or
"leaks"--play a fundamental role in efforts to create and contest expert
authority. The author uncovers this complex assemblage of dramaturgical
machinery through a richly detailed comparative analysis of three
controversial reports on diet and health, including a proposed revision
to the Recommended Daily Allowances, prepared by the National Academy of
Sciences--the most prestigious source of expert advice in the United
States today.
This lively and accessible analysis--which includes its own drama,
complete with Greek chorus--provides not only new insights about science
advice but also a fresh look at the social dimensions of scientific
writing. The theatrical metaphor highlights issues that more familiar
theoretical frameworks often leave waiting in the wings. In the author's
hands, scientific texts emerge not just as rhetorical constructions or
forms of discourse, but also as crucial parts of systems for controlling
the enclosure and disclosure of information, and thereby for structuring
relations between experts and their audiences.
