Review: Stefan Böschen & Ingo Schulz-Schaeffer (Eds.) (2003). Wissenschaft in der Wissensgesellschaft [Science in a Knowledge Society]

Abstract

Titled "Science in a knowledge society," the volume presents contributions which discuss "knowledge" from very different points of view: as scientific knowledge, as an economic resource, as non-knowledge and as tacit knowledge. Roughly half of the entries are anchored in the theory of reflexive modernization, whereas the other half orientates itself to the concept of a knowledge society. The review discusses Martin HEIDENREICH's overview of the debate about the knowledge society and, in shorter form, the other entries are ordered by the themes of "Knowledge as economic resource," "Knowledge and non-knowledge," and "Science and reflexive modernization." Three common conclusions drawn from the discussions in this heterogeneous volume are: (1) there is a turn towards practice theory in the social sciences, (2) a denial exists of the view that the knowledge society is a linear growth from the influence of science in society, and (3), that the politics and policies of science are seen as fields of growing importance. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0502154