Science and Markets

Abstract

In Chapter 3 we discussed how privatisation to the maximum extent feasible and marketisation/commercialisation of the remaining public sector were themes central to NPM in the UK from 1979 to 1997. These themes have not been attenuated under subsequent Labour governments. In Chapter 4 we explored how NPM had prompted the development of new organisational forms for science and technology providers. But, as we explained in Chapter 1, change in science was characterised not just by organisational reform but also new visions of what ‘science’ was. In this chapter we will explicate what these new visions were and how they were synergistically related to and underpinning of policy-driven organisational change during this period. In Chapter 6, which follows, we demonstrate how new organisational forms and new visions of science have come together to generate new scientific knowledge production processes.