Perspectives on Science’s “Social Contract”
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Perspectives on Science’s “Social Contract”
Over four decades,
Issues
has hosted many articles discussing science’s “social contract”—the idea, as physicist Harvey Brooks articulated it in 1988, that the scientific enterprise would provide “social benefits in exchange for an unusual degree of self-governance and financial support free of strings.” Today, this contract is clearly defunct: The federal government has cut funding for science, cast doubt on scientific findings, and prioritized investment in research outside the university system. Whatever the future of federally funded science is, it’s no longer “free of strings.” As the scientific enterprise tries to decide how to respond, it first needs to figure out what happened.
The collection of these articles is part of an exploration of science’s social contract that is generously supported by
The Kavli Foundation
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October 22, 2025
No Longer Free of Strings
Lisa Margonelli
Why has the idea of an implicit social contract between society and science had a hold on scientists’ imaginations for so long? And what does it mean now that the relationship has frayed?
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April 15, 2026
How the American Research University Survives
Robert A. Brown
Bruce R. Guile
University leadership needs to shift attention from chasing prestige to crafting strategies for long-term success.
Education
November 20, 2025
Discussing Science’s “Social Contract”
Ian Banks
Heather E. Douglas
David H. Guston
C. Brandon Ogbunu
Bina Venkataraman
If the public funds science and gives it autonomy to govern itself, then benefits such as economic growth, innovation, and national security will follow. This unwritten social contract was long thought to underpin policymakers’ relationship to the scientific enterprise, but recent events suggest those days are over.
July 09, 2025
It’s Time for Universities to Redesign Their 75-Year-Old Contract
Michael M. Crow
William B. Dabars
David V. Rosowsky
American research universities have unleashed an age of massive technical innovation—but they’ve failed to innovate their own designs to meet the changing needs of society.
Education
January 03, 2023
“The More Inclusion We Have in Science, the Better Outcomes We’ll Get.”
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Molly Galvin
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson spent five decades in public service, during which she ushered through landmark science and technology legislation and helped to advance opportunities for all Americans.
Science Politics
October 19, 2021
“Science and Technology Now Sit in the Center of Every Policy and Social Issue”
Alondra Nelson
William Kearney
In January 2021, President Biden appointed sociologist Alondra Nelson, a leading scholar of science, technology, medicine, and social inequality, to be the first deputy director for science and society in the White…
Science and Society
September 15, 2021
Incentivizing Public Interest Science
Heather E. Douglas
How do policymakers ensure that they have the needed expertise on hand when advice is required? How do elected leaders shape what is studied so that the appropriate and required expertise is likely to be available when they need it?
Online Exclusives
October 05, 2020
A “Sedative” for Science Policy
Roger Pielke Jr.
In science policy, the adoption of a “frontier” metaphor served to rationalize research exclusively on individual scientists exploring the unknown. In so doing, the metaphor has been an intellectual soporific, absolving the scientific community from the need to consider its broader responsibilities.
Science Politics
June 29, 2020
The Changing Temptations of Science
Stephen P. Turner
Daryl E. Chubin
The changes in science over the past century have outpaced society’s images of science, of what sort of activity it is, and of what scientists are and do. Have these changes also outpaced science’s capacity to assure its integrity and quality?
Science Politics
January 23, 2017
Scientific Controversies as Proxy Politics
Daniel J. Hicks
Scientific controversies are often not about the science. Instead, science provides an arena in which society attempts to come to terms with much deeper issues. Science, in other words, serves as a proxy for political and philosophical debates.