ABSTRACT

Does science work best in a democracy? Were 'Soviet' or 'Nazi' science fundamentally different from science in the USA? These questions have been passionately debated in the recent past. Particular developments in science took place under particular political regimes, but they may or may not have been directly determined by them.
Science and Ideology brings together a number of comparative case studies to examine the relationship between science and the dominant ideology of a state. Cybernetics in the USA is compared to France and the Soviet Union. Postwar Allied science policy in occupied Germany is juxtaposed to that in Japan. The essays are narrowly focussed, yet cover a wide range of countries and ideologies. The collection provides a unique comparative history of scientific policies and practices in the 20th century.

chapter 1|16 pages

Introduction

Science and ideology

chapter 2|18 pages

Science and Totalitarianism

Lessons for the twenty-first century

chapter 4|31 pages

From Communications Engineering to Communications Science

Cybernetics and information theory in the United States, France, and the Soviet Union

chapter 5|27 pages

Science Policy in Post-1945 West Germany and Japan

Between ideology and economics

chapter 7|30 pages

Legitimation through Use1

Rocket and aeronautic research in the Third Reich and the USA

chapter 8|41 pages

Weaving Networks

The University of Jena in the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the postwar East German state

chapter 9|34 pages

Friedrich Möglich

A Scientist's Journey from Fascism to Communism