ABSTRACT
Scientists often complain about governments failing to give due prominence to the former’s discoveries when forming public policy. Yet it is not true that governments are blind to science. Governments do what suits their ideological bias or what they are pressed to do, and that includes their attitudes toward science and technology. Indeed, science itself is not apolitical. Therefore, scientists, especially those whose work is not in favor with government, sometimes decide that they have to take part in the political arena if they want their work to lead to some practical result. Nowhere is this more true than for the effects of psychosocial factors on health. The essence of this important research has major implications for public and commercial policy—from the way jobs are designed to how social welfare systems work.
