VIII. CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN U.S. SCIENCE POLICY, 



1975-85 



Federal science policy during the period 1975-1985 was influ- 

 enced by changes in the economic and social context brought about 

 by the energy crisis and economic stagflation. Both Presidents 

 Carter and Reagan sought to increase Federal support of basic re- 

 search, believing that advances in science and technology would 

 help improve the international competitiveness of American indus- 

 try and strengthen the domestic economy. 1 Several themes re- 

 curred in the debates over science policy in both the Carter and 

 Reagan Administrations. One of these was the question of what 

 should be the rationale for the public funding of scientific research. 

 The Carter Administration tended to stress Federal involvement as 

 an "investment" for the future, often directed at solving major na- 

 tional problems. During the Reagan Administration, expenditures 

 for research were rationalized largely by looking either at the ulti- 

 mate application for industrial competitiveness or, more specifical- 

 ly, at military application. Although the administrative choices and 

 political strategies were often the same for Carter and Reagan, the 

 metaphors they employed were different. At the same time, repre- 

 sentatives of the scientific community began increasingly to stress 

 that Federal decisions on the support of research should rely pri- 

 marily on the needs of scientists, rather than on directed applica- 

 tions. This emphasis was clearly manifested in the scientists' reac- 

 tion to the political circumvention of the peer review system as it 

 occurred in several instances of funding large-scale research 

 projects. 



Science Policy Under President Carter 



The Carter Administration placed great importance upon the 

 Federal support of research and development. The promotion of 

 basic research figured prominantly in the Administration's science 

 policy, and it sought to provide real growth in expenditures for 

 such research by the National Science Foundation and the Depart- 

 ments of Agriculture, Defense, and Energy. Beyond expanding Fed- 

 eral funding for basic research, President Carter's science policy 

 emphasized that Federally funded R&D should: (1) stimulate inno- 

 vation in industry, help sustain economic growth, and improve pro- 



1 For a thorough discussion of the development of science policy during the Carter and 

 Reagan Administrations, see David Dickson, The New Politics of Science (New York: Pantheon 

 Books, 1984). Also useful are J. Ronayne, Science in Government (London: Edward Arnold, 1984); 

 Claude E. Barfield, Science Policy from Ford to Reagan: Change and Continuity (Washington: 

 American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1982); William W. Lowrance, Modern 

 Science and Human Values (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985); Deborah Shapley and 

 Rustum Roy, Lost at the Frontier: U.S. Science and Technology Policy Adrift (Philadelphia: ISI 

 Press, 1985); Harvey A. Averch, A Strategic Analysis of Science and Technology Policy (Balti- 

 more: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985); and National Science Foundation, Federal R&D 

 Funding: The 1975-85 Decade (Washington: GPO, 1984). 



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