Theorizing an Alternative Understanding of ‘Disconnects’ between Science and Management

In some management discourses, challenges to using environmental health science in land use decision-making and policy formulation result from ‘disconnects’ between the tools and findings of environmental health science and the needs of land use managers. These disconnects are often posited as resulting from the incommensurable epistemologies of scientists and managers, leading to an inevitable lack of resolution between groups who are often characterized as unable to get along. This paper takes an alternative view of disconnects. We argue that disconnects between science and management stem from the often contradictory, double movement of environmental resources and economic development pressures within postindustrial capitalist societies. Utilizing a political ecological framework to analyze conflict in environmental management, this paper suggests disconnects can be linked to the broader problem of the commoditization of nature, rather than the relationship between scientists and managers. Theorizing disconnects in this way opens up new opportunities to think about the science/policy divide.