Our time is characterized by new demands upon scientists in policy and politics. But experience and research show us that science is well suited to contribute directly to the resolution of political conflicts only in the most simple of decision contexts. In more complicated contexts, looking to science to enable a political consensus may in fact compromise both the odds for consensus and the valuable role that science can provide to policy-making. In the light of these findings, which some scientists may admittedly find uncomfortable, this book considers options available for scientists in policy and politics.

The arguments presented in this book have benefited from, and indeed are derived from, a large literature on Science, Technology, and Society (STS) and Science and Technology Policy (STP). For many scholars of STS or STP the arguments presented in this book may be quite familiar, even old news. But my experiences over the past decade and a half working on a day-to-day basis with many scientists suggest that, with some notable exceptions, most scientists, including social scientists, are simply unaware of the understandings of the scholarly community who study science in society. Hence, it is appropriate to view this work as an attempt to connect scholarly understandings of science in society with the practical world of scientists who increasingly face everyday decisions about how to position their careers and research in the context of policy and politics.