Editor’s Introduction

Arien Mack Editor’s Introduction THIS VOLUME OF SOCIAL RESEARCH FOLLOWS ON THE HEELS OF AN ISSUE th at shares its focus, but w ith one difference. The earlier issue, “Politics and Science: How Their Interplay Results in Public Policy” (Fall 2006), contained papers delivered at the fifteenth Social Research conference, held in February 2006. Both the conference and the fall 2006 issue focused on the current state of affairs in the United States and looked back only at the recent past in this country. W hat distinguishes the current issue is not only its focus on the more distant past but also that it sets out to examine the relationship between politics and science in a far broader political and cultural context— one that looks at other countries, at other times. It obviously would have made considerably more sense to publish these two issues in reverse order, with the historical overview appear­ ing before the papers dealing w ith the present state of affairs in the United States, but the urgency of the current situation dictated the reverse order. To any of our readers for w hom this reasoning is not clear, may I suggest a look at the earlier issue. Publishing the issues in w hat would have been their proper intellectual order—the past before the present—would, of course, have been consistent w ith the maxim that to ignore the past is to risk repeating it. This is why, despite the reversal of the proper order, it still seemed incum bent upon us to take a look at the long and tangled history of the relationship between poli­ tics and science in order to better understand the present situation and the risks that may be incurred by policy decisions that reflect political or religious ideologies more than scientific evidence. social research Vol 73 : No 3 : Fall 2006 v It is our hope that reexamining the history of past conflicts between the religious and political powers of the day and the develop­ ing sciences, even if only in the cursory manner permitted in an issue of a journal, has the potential at least to influence our present skewed policymaking decision process. I would like to express my special thanks to Peter Galison for the advice he so generously provided as I set out to put this issue together. Had I been able to follow his suggestions, this issue would have been far more inclusive than it is. Statem ent o f O w nership. M anagem ent and C irculation: 1 Publication title: Social Research. 2) Publication No.: 834-560. 3) Filing date: November 8, ‘ 2006. 4) Issue frequency: Quarterly. 5) N um ber o f issues published annually: 4. 6) Annual subscription price: S40. 7) Com plete mailing address of known office of publication: Social Research. T he New School for Social Research, 65 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003. 8) C om plete mailing address o f headquarters or general business office of the publisher: T he New School for Social Research, 65 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003. 9) Full nam es and com plete mailing addresses of publisher, editor and m anaging editor: Publisher: T h e New School, 55 West 13lh Street, New York. NY 10011. Editor: Dr. Arien M ack, T he New School for Social Research, 65 Fifth Avenue, New York. NY 10003. M anaging editor: C ara N. Schlesinger, Social Research, T he New School for Social Research, 65 Fifth Avenue. New York, NY 10003. 10) Owner: T he New School, 55 West 13,h Street, New York, NY 10011. 11) K nown bondholders, mortgagees and other security holders owning or holding one percent or m ore o f total am ount o f bonds, m ortgages or other securities: none. 12) Tax status: For completion by nonprofit organizations authorized to mail at nonprofit rates: Has not changed during preceding twelve months. 13; Publication title. Social Research: An International Q uarterly of the Social Sciences. 14) Issue date for circulation data below: Sum m er 2006. 15) Extent and nature of circulation, a) Total num ber o f copies (net press run). Average num ber of copies o f...