This collection of essays by noted academicians, lawyers, energy agency administrators, and research analysts focuses on the political and legal aspects of the acid rain debate, the policy options for resolving the controversy, and the international dimensions of acid rain control. The contributors highlight concerns drawn primarily from the developing study of acid rain in political science, economics, public administration, and policy analysis--concerns that are the focal point of the public debate over the nature, impact, and cost of acid rain and the mitigation of its effects. The book complements the impressive body of research from the natural sciences and responds to the need for applied study to help resolve the current policy stalemate on this critical environmental issue. The Acid Rain Debate features a comprehensive annotated bibliography on acid rain and relevant social science research.

This study describes the origins of acid rain, how it is formed, the ecological and human effects, and prevention methods. It also examines debates within the scientific community as a basis for evaluating policy decisions. A comprehensive review of pollution control techniques questions which technologies are currently available, their future availability, or whether they are merely theoretical. The authors frame the economic and political context for making decisions about acid rain control policy and offer valuable insights about the underlying dynamics of the environmental policymaking process for the near future.

This collection of essays by noted academicians, lawyers, energy agency administrators, and research analysts focuses on the political and legal aspects of the acid rain debate, the policy options for resolving the controversy, and the international dimensions of acid rain control. The contributors highlight concerns drawn primarily from the developing study of acid rain in political science, economics, public administration, and policy analysis--concerns that are the focal point of the public debate over the nature, impact, and cost of acid rain and the mitigation of its effects. The book complements the impressive body of research from the natural sciences and responds to the need for applied study to help resolve the current policy stalemate on this critical environmental issue. The Acid Rain Debate features a comprehensive annotated bibliography on acid rain and relevant social science research.

The author cuts through the legal, scientific and political maelstrom surrounding the acid rain controversy. Personal stories are included to emphasize the most serious environmental dilemma of the decade.

Why is science so credible? Usual answers center on scientists' objective methods or their powerful instruments. In his new book, Thomas Gieryn argues that a better explanation for the cultural authority of science lies downstream, when scientific claims leave laboratories and enter courtrooms, boardrooms, and living rooms. On such occasions, we use "maps" to decide who to believe—cultural maps demarcating "science" from pseudoscience, ideology, faith, or nonsense. Gieryn looks at episodes of boundary-work: Was phrenology good science? How about cold fusion? Is social science really scientific? Is organic farming? After centuries of disputes like these, Gieryn finds no stable criteria that absolutely distinguish science from non-science. Science remains a pliable cultural space, flexibly reshaped to claim credibility for some beliefs while denying it to others. In a timely epilogue, Gieryn finds this same controversy at the heart of the raging "science wars."

"This volume represents the social constructivist turn of the field. It is evident that social constructivism made a major impact on the field during the 1970s and 1980s. The diverse papers included here highlight the role of ethnography in STS. In addition, we are exposed to new perspectives of the multicultural and gendered nature of knowledge production." —Science, Technology, and Society For the most current, comprehensive resource in this rapidly evolving field, look no further than the Revised Edition of the Handbook of Science and Technology Studies. This masterful volume is the first resource in more than 15 years to define, summarize, and synthesize this complex multidisciplinary, international field. Tightly edited with contributions by an internationally recognized team of leading scholars, this volume addresses the crucial contemporary issues—both traditional and nonconventional—social studies, political studies, and humanistic studies in this changing field. Containing theoretical essays, extensive literature reviews, and detailed case studies, this remarkable volume clearly sets the standard for the field. It does nothing less than establish itself as the benchmark, one that will carry the field well into the next century. "The long-awaited Handbook of Science and Technology Studies sponsored by the Society for Social Studies of Science is a truly substantial work, both in size and in the breadth of its many contributions. It is a rich and valuable guide to much that is transpiring in the field of Science and Technology Studies. In the editors′ words, it is ′an unconventional but arresting atlas of the field at a particular moment in its history.′" —Science, Technology & Society "This book is not only an important resource for practitioners, but it also may help to spark the curiosity of those who are outside the field—including scientists and engineers themselves—and so pull the ′half-seen world′ of science and technology studies even more fully into the light of day." —American Scientist "The book as a whole is an impressive testimony to the vitality of a burgeoning field." —New Scientist "It reflects the international and interdisciplinary nature of the society. An excellent resource" —Choice