The Racial Economy of Science: Toward a Democratic Future - Paperback

by Sandra Harding (Editor)

"The classic and recent essays gathered here will challenge scholars in the natural sciences, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and women's studies to examine the role of racism in the construction and application of the sciences. Harding . . . has also created a useful text for diverse classroom settings." --Library Journal

"A rich lode of readily accessible thought on the nature and practice of science in society. Highly recommended." --Choice

"This is an excellent collection of essays that should prove useful in a wide range of STS courses." --Science, Technology, and Society

" . . . important and provocative . . . " --The Women's Review of Books

"The timeliness and utility of this large interdisciplinary reader on the relation of Western science to other cultures and to world history can hardly be overemphasized. It provides a tremendous resource for teaching and for research . . . " --Ethics

"Excellent." --The Reader's Review

"Sandra Harding is an intellectually fearless scholar. She has assembled a bold, impressive collection of essays to make a volume of illuminating power. This brilliantly edited book is essential reading for all who seek understanding of the multicultural debates of our age. Never has a book been more timely." --Darlene Clark Hine

These authors dispute science's legitimation of culturally approved definitions of race difference--including craniology and the measurement of IQ, the notorious Tuskegee syphilis experiments, and the dependence of Third World research on First World agendas.

Back Jacket

'The Racial Economy of Science' encompassed a range of crucial issues, including a critical revaluation of the sciences in pre-modern high cultures of China, Africa, and the Andes; how science legitimated culturally approved definitions of race difference; the dependence of Third World research of First World agendas; race, imperialism, and the application of scientific technologies in health and reproduction; developmental agriculture and applied biology in the Third World; environmental racism and environmental crises in developing countries; and visions of programs that create sciences for a democratic world community.

Author Biography

SANDRA HARDING, a philosopher, is Professor of Education and Women Studies at UCLA. She is author of Whose Science: Whose Knowledge?: Thinking from Women's Lives and The Science Question in Feminism, and editor of Feminism and Methodology: Social Science Issues.