ABSTRACT
The scientists who fit the stereotype of following their own interests and aiming at new knowledge constitute only a small fraction of the people employed in scientific work; by and large the only place where these conditions are even approximately met is in universities and related higher education and research institutions. The majority of scientists are occupied in applied science, in technology, as technical assistants, or as educators. In the case of the European nations this group constitutes around one-tenth of the general scientific workforce. Scientific work is more privileged with greater control over time, pace and hours than assembly-line work. Accordingly, scientific research in the university and related sectors, or the research system, becomes the subject of overt political attention. The research system can be regarded as composed of a chain of decisions stretching from the part of government providing the finance down to the level of scientific workers employed in laboratories and research establishments.
