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==Science studies== ==Science studies==
Nelkin became interested in the issues of nuclear power when, in 1967, ] (NYSE&G) proposed to build a nuclear power plant on ]. She wrote ''Nuclear Power and its Critics: The Cayuga Lake Controversy'' (1971) as a case study sponsored by the Cornell University's Program on Science, Technology and Society.<ref name="Zuckerman, Harriet (1973)">{{cite journal |last1=Zuckerman |first1=Harriet |title=Reviewed Works: Nuclear Power and its Critics: The Cayuga Lake Controversy by Dorothy Nelkin |journal=Social Forces |date=June 1973 |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=516-517 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2576725 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> The book documented the differing stakeholder perspectives, including scientists from Cornell University, the Citizen's Committee to Save Cayuga Lake, representatives from the ], ], and NYSE&G <ref name="Wick, Gerald (1971)">{{cite journal |last1=Wick |first1=Gerald |title=Review. Nuclear Conflict in New York |journal=New Scientist and Science Journal |date=August 26, 1971 |volume=51 |issue=766 |page=480 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQWxZ_mwx5cC&pg=PA480&lpg=PA480&dq=Nuclear+power+and+its+critics:+The+Cayuga+Lake+Controversy+New+Scientist&source=bl&ots=QsBv80Rp1Z&sig=ACfU3U26FZKGMtqafiHxo1ueXTf_3ENAfg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjM_vHq1KzoAhUuAp0JHSIgBrYQ6AEwEXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=Nuclear%20power%20and%20its%20critics%3A%20The%20Cayuga%20Lake%20Controversy%20New%20Scientist&f=false}}</ref> <ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /> <ref name="Zuckerman, Harriet (1973)" /> Critics noted the book was a "painstaking history" <ref name="Zuckerman, Harriet (1973)" /> that may not be "useful or interesting" to the general reader,<ref name="Wick, Gerald (1971)" /> but valuable in that it posed questions about the role of scientists in public debate, as well as how the scientific dimension was portrayed in the media.<ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /> This project marked the beginning of Nelkin's long-term interest in public controversies, including sound pollution in relation to ], creationism, atomic power, and the application and management of technology.<ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /> Nelkin became interested in the issues of nuclear power when, in 1967, ] (NYSE&G) proposed to build a nuclear power plant on ]. She wrote ''Nuclear Power and its Critics: The Cayuga Lake Controversy'' (1971) as a case study sponsored by the Cornell University's Program on Science, Technology and Society.<ref name="Zuckerman, Harriet (1973)">{{cite journal |last1=Zuckerman |first1=Harriet |title=Reviewed Works: Nuclear Power and its Critics: The Cayuga Lake Controversy by Dorothy Nelkin |journal=Social Forces |date=June 1973 |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=516-517 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2576725 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> The book documented the differing stakeholder perspectives, including scientists from Cornell University, the Citizen's Committee to Save Cayuga Lake, representatives from the ], ], and NYSE&G <ref name="Wick, Gerald (1971)">{{cite journal |last1=Wick |first1=Gerald |title=Review. Nuclear Conflict in New York |journal=New Scientist and Science Journal |date=August 26, 1971 |volume=51 |issue=766 |page=480 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQWxZ_mwx5cC&pg=PA480&lpg=PA480&dq=Nuclear+power+and+its+critics:+The+Cayuga+Lake+Controversy+New+Scientist&source=bl&ots=QsBv80Rp1Z&sig=ACfU3U26FZKGMtqafiHxo1ueXTf_3ENAfg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjM_vHq1KzoAhUuAp0JHSIgBrYQ6AEwEXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=Nuclear%20power%20and%20its%20critics%3A%20The%20Cayuga%20Lake%20Controversy%20New%20Scientist&f=false}}</ref><ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /><ref name="Zuckerman, Harriet (1973)" /> Critics noted the book was a "painstaking history" <ref name="Zuckerman, Harriet (1973)" /> that may not be "useful or interesting" to the general reader,<ref name="Wick, Gerald (1971)" /> but valuable in that it posed questions about the role of scientists in public debate, as well as how the scientific dimension was portrayed in the media.<ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /> This project marked the beginning of Nelkin's long-term interest in public controversies, including sound pollution in relation to ], creationism, atomic power, and the application and management of technology.<ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" />


==Creation Science== ==Creation Science==
Nelkin's book ''Science Textbook Controversies and the Politics of Equal Time'' (MIT, 1977), documented the "religious and cultural war" of the early 1970s in which religious groups in the United States challenged the teaching of evolution in school textbooks and argued in favor of "creation-science".<ref name="Wyman, Anne (1981)">{{cite news |last1=Wyman |first1=Anne |title=Breaking Ground; Evolution: The New Debate. |work=Boston Globe |date=February 2, 1981 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |page=1}}</ref> <ref name="Marsden, George (1983)">{{cite journal |last1=Marsden |first1=George M. |title=Two Types of Fundamentalists |journal=Nature |date=April 1983 |volume=302 |issue=21 |pages=729-730 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/302729a0 |accessdate=25 March 2020}}</ref> As one critic wrote, Nelkin was "sympathetic, but alarmed" at what she considered a "growth of intolerance, a new rigidity in values."<ref name="Wyman, Anne (1981)" /> Nelkin's book ''Science Textbook Controversies and the Politics of Equal Time'' (MIT, 1977), documented the "religious and cultural war" of the early 1970s in which religious groups in the United States challenged the teaching of evolution in school textbooks and argued in favor of "creation-science".<ref name="Wyman, Anne (1981)">{{cite news |last1=Wyman |first1=Anne |title=Breaking Ground; Evolution: The New Debate. |work=Boston Globe |date=February 2, 1981 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |page=1}}</ref><ref name="Marsden, George (1983)">{{cite journal |last1=Marsden |first1=George M. |title=Two Types of Fundamentalists |journal=Nature |date=April 1983 |volume=302 |issue=21 |pages=729-730 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/302729a0 |accessdate=25 March 2020}}</ref> As one critic wrote, Nelkin was "sympathetic, but alarmed" at what she considered a "growth of intolerance, a new rigidity in values."<ref name="Wyman, Anne (1981)" />


In 1982, Nelkin followed up with ''The Creation Controversy: Science or Scripture in the Schools.'' In it, she documented various state and local conflicts over science textbooks and the teaching of biological evolution. These issues included local control, public participation in the assessment of science and technology, and the increasingly disputed role of expertise in public policy."<ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /> Nelkin asserted that fundamentalists focus on education because it is one area where parents can "exert control over their lives and families".<ref name="Cohen, Muriel (1984)">{{cite news |last1=Cohen |first1=Muriel |title=Texans aim to make their schools no. 1 |work=Boston Globe |date=March 5, 1984 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |page=1}}</ref> According to Nelkin, there is a link between creationism and areas of high technology,"<ref name="Schaffer, Michael (1983)">{{cite news |last1=Schaffer |first1=Michael D. |title=Evolution debate, having evolved, may be headed back to courtroom |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |date=June 26, 1983 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=C.3}}</ref> with some creationists representing themselves as scientists.<ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /> This rising interest in ], according to Nelkin, was an outcropping of popular anxieties about science and technology.<ref name="Marsden, George (1983">{{cite journal |last1=Marsden |first1=George M. |title=Two Types of Fundamentalists |journal=Nature |date=April 1983 |volume=302 |issue=21 |pages=729-730 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/302729a0 |accessdate=29 March 2020}}</ref> One critic called the book "balanced" and "richly factual,"<ref name="Marsden, George (1983" /> but expressed concerns that Nelkin's approach did not take into account differences among religious beliefs. "Such a sociological approach accordingly misses the subtleties of the religious issues that must be considered to explain creation-science."<ref name="Marsden, George (1983" /> In 1982, Nelkin followed up with ''The Creation Controversy: Science or Scripture in the Schools.'' In it, she documented various state and local conflicts over science textbooks and the teaching of biological evolution. These issues included local control, public participation in the assessment of science and technology, and the increasingly disputed role of expertise in public policy."<ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /> Nelkin asserted that fundamentalists focus on education because it is one area where parents can "exert control over their lives and families".<ref name="Cohen, Muriel (1984)">{{cite news |last1=Cohen |first1=Muriel |title=Texans aim to make their schools no. 1 |work=Boston Globe |date=March 5, 1984 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |page=1}}</ref> According to Nelkin, there is a link between creationism and areas of high technology,"<ref name="Schaffer, Michael (1983)">{{cite news |last1=Schaffer |first1=Michael D. |title=Evolution debate, having evolved, may be headed back to courtroom |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |date=June 26, 1983 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=C.3}}</ref> with some creationists representing themselves as scientists.<ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /> This rising interest in ], according to Nelkin, was an outcropping of popular anxieties about science and technology.<ref name="Marsden, George (1983">{{cite journal |last1=Marsden |first1=George M. |title=Two Types of Fundamentalists |journal=Nature |date=April 1983 |volume=302 |issue=21 |pages=729-730 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/302729a0 |accessdate=29 March 2020}}</ref> One critic called the book "balanced" and "richly factual,"<ref name="Marsden, George (1983" /> but expressed concerns that Nelkin's approach did not take into account differences among religious beliefs. "Such a sociological approach accordingly misses the subtleties of the religious issues that must be considered to explain creation-science."<ref name="Marsden, George (1983" />
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==Science and the press== ==Science and the press==
In ''Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology,'' Nelkin explored the cultural pressures which shape the reporting of science in the popular press.<ref name="Wray, Herbert (1987)">{{cite news |last1=Wray |first1=Herbert |title=The Nature of Things |work=The Washington Post |issue=Final Edition |date=July 12, 1987 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=x06}}</ref> It reflects her concern about "science by press conference."<ref name="Detjen, Jim (1989)">{{cite news |last1=Detjen |first1=Jim |title=Scientists fearing fallout from fusion controversy |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |date=April 30, 1989 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=A.6}}</ref> She posited that scientists and journalists have differing agendas that cause a "distortion of scientific progress."<ref name="Wray, Herbert (1987)" /> The culture of journalism and pressures to respond to events causes the superficiality or oversimplification of science reporting in the press, raising concerns when scientific breakthroughs and calamities (e.g., ], ], the ]) are overstated. <ref name="Burrows, Malcolm (1987)">{{cite news |last1=Burrows |first1=Malcolm |title=Why science and journalism don't mix. Selling Science by Dorothy Nelkin |work=Toronto Star |issue=SA1 Edition |date=September 5, 1987 |location=Toronto, Ontario |page=M5}}</ref> <ref name="Wray, Herbert (1987)" /> <ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /><ref name="Lee, Dembart (1987)">{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Dembart |title=Book review: Science writers under the microscope |work=Los Angeles Times |issue=Home Edition |date=May 1987 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=6}}</ref> In ''Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology,'' Nelkin explored the cultural pressures which shape the reporting of science in the popular press.<ref name="Wray, Herbert (1987)">{{cite news |last1=Wray |first1=Herbert |title=The Nature of Things |work=The Washington Post |issue=Final Edition |date=July 12, 1987 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=x06}}</ref> It reflects her concern about "science by press conference."<ref name="Detjen, Jim (1989)">{{cite news |last1=Detjen |first1=Jim |title=Scientists fearing fallout from fusion controversy |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |date=April 30, 1989 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=A.6}}</ref> She posited that scientists and journalists have differing agendas that cause a "distortion of scientific progress."<ref name="Wray, Herbert (1987)" /> The culture of journalism and pressures to respond to events causes the superficiality or oversimplification of science reporting in the press, raising concerns when scientific breakthroughs and calamities (e.g., ], ], the ]) are overstated. <ref name="Burrows, Malcolm (1987)">{{cite news |last1=Burrows |first1=Malcolm |title=Why science and journalism don't mix. Selling Science by Dorothy Nelkin |work=Toronto Star |issue=SA1 Edition |date=September 5, 1987 |location=Toronto, Ontario |page=M5}}</ref><ref name="Wray, Herbert (1987)" /><ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /><ref name="Lee, Dembart (1987)">{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Dembart |title=Book review: Science writers under the microscope |work=Los Angeles Times |issue=Home Edition |date=May 1987 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=6}}</ref>
The scientific community, on the other hand, deals with the "continuous process of research."<ref name="Burrows, Malcolm (1987)" /> Their distrust of reporters and promotion of their own work to get funding are factors which contribute to the problem.<ref name="Wray, Herbert (1987)" /> While critics found the book to be "lucid, readable and painless,"<ref name="Dornan, Christopher (1987)">{{cite news |last1=Dornan |first1=Christopher |title=Lady professor sings that old song about science news |work=The Gazette |date=May 23, 1987 |location=Montreal, Quebec |page=J8}}</ref> and "a very good description of the way science journalism is practiced today,<ref name="Lee, Dembart (1987)" /> to some, it offered "little in the way of prescription for better science reportage."<ref name="Wray, Herbert (1987)" /> The scientific community, on the other hand, deals with the "continuous process of research."<ref name="Burrows, Malcolm (1987)" /> Their distrust of reporters and promotion of their own work to get funding are factors which contribute to the problem.<ref name="Wray, Herbert (1987)" /> While critics found the book to be "lucid, readable and painless,"<ref name="Dornan, Christopher (1987)">{{cite news |last1=Dornan |first1=Christopher |title=Lady professor sings that old song about science news |work=The Gazette |date=May 23, 1987 |location=Montreal, Quebec |page=J8}}</ref> and "a very good description of the way science journalism is practiced today,<ref name="Lee, Dembart (1987)" /> to some, it offered "little in the way of prescription for better science reportage."<ref name="Wray, Herbert (1987)" />


{{Quotation|"In reporting each finding, the media often does not convey the message that the scientific process is not certain and that the finding is tentative and may in fact be turned around by other studies or even by closer examination of the same data. The public needs to know that a scientific finding is the best guess at the moment, it is not the final truth.| Dorothy Nelkin<ref name="The Boston Globe (1993)">{{cite news |title=Breast cancer study flawed error led to overly reassuring news, researchers say |work=The Boston Globe |date=October 7, 1993 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |page=3A}}</ref>}} {{Quotation|"In reporting each finding, the media often does not convey the message that the scientific process is not certain and that the finding is tentative and may in fact be turned around by other studies or even by closer examination of the same data. The public needs to know that a scientific finding is the best guess at the moment, it is not the final truth.| Dorothy Nelkin<ref name="The Boston Globe (1993)">{{cite news |title=Breast cancer study flawed error led to overly reassuring news, researchers say |work=The Boston Globe |date=October 7, 1993 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |page=3A}}</ref>}}
==Biomedicine== ==Biomedicine==
''Dangerous Diagnostics: The Social Power of Biological Information,'' a book Nelkin co-wrote with ], was critically viewed as provocative<ref name="Gorner, Peter (1989)">{{cite news |last1=Gorner |first1=Peter |title=The darker side of biological testing |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-09-20-8901140596-story.html |accessdate=27 April 2020 |work=Chicago Tribune |issue=North Sports Final, C Edition |date=September 20, 1989 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=3}}</ref> and explored issues with ], including the use and misuse of biological information.<ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /> <ref name="Gorner, Peter (1989)" /> The authors expressed concern that medical and psychological information, obtained in educational and medical settings, would be used by insurance companies, schools, workplaces, and courts to profile people.<ref name="Gorner, Peter (1989)" /> These concerns raise issues of civil liberties, human integrity, and personal privacy <ref name="Dembart, Lee (1989)">{{cite news |last1=Dembart |first1=Lee |title=Book Reviews: Vision from inside the prison of society's tests |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 19, 1989 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=11}}</ref> in the form of institutionalized ].<ref name="Dembart, Lee (1989)" /><ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /> ''Dangerous Diagnostics: The Social Power of Biological Information,'' a book Nelkin co-wrote with ], was critically viewed as provocative<ref name="Gorner, Peter (1989)">{{cite news |last1=Gorner |first1=Peter |title=The darker side of biological testing |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-09-20-8901140596-story.html |accessdate=27 April 2020 |work=Chicago Tribune |issue=North Sports Final, C Edition |date=September 20, 1989 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=3}}</ref> and explored issues with ], including the use and misuse of biological information.<ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /><ref name="Gorner, Peter (1989)" /> The authors expressed concern that medical and psychological information, obtained in educational and medical settings, would be used by insurance companies, schools, workplaces, and courts to profile people.<ref name="Gorner, Peter (1989)" /> These concerns raise issues of civil liberties, human integrity, and personal privacy <ref name="Dembart, Lee (1989)">{{cite news |last1=Dembart |first1=Lee |title=Book Reviews: Vision from inside the prison of society's tests |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 19, 1989 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=11}}</ref> in the form of institutionalized ].<ref name="Dembart, Lee (1989)" /><ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" />


==DNA== ==DNA==
In ''The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon,'' with co-writer Susan Lindee, Nelkin explored how the gene was being defined and exploited by popular culture. The authors argue that the gene, as a cultural icon, has become a In ''The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon,'' with co-writer Susan Lindee, Nelkin explored how the gene was being defined and exploited by popular culture. The authors argue that the gene, as a cultural icon, has become a
sacred entity — almost magical and mythical<ref name="Conrad, Peter (1996)">{{cite journal |last1=Conrad |first1=Peter |title=Reviewed Work(s): The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon by Dorothy Nelkin and M. Susan Lindee |journal=Contemporary Socioloty |date=January 1996 |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=124-125 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2077015 |accessdate=28 April 2020 |publisher=American Sociological Association}}</ref> — and is being used to "explore fundamental questions about human life, to define the essence of human existence, and to imagine immortality."<ref name="Alper, Joseph (1996)">{{cite journal |last1=Alper |first1=Joseph S. |title=Reviewed Work(s): The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon by Dorothy Nelkin and M. Susan Lindee |journal=Journal of Public Health Policy |date=1996 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=241-244 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3342701 |accessdate=28 April 2020 |publisher=Palsgrave Macmillan Journals}}</ref> The authors researched how the media (e.g., books, newspapers, magazine and journal articles, movies, and comic books) impacted genetic ideas within popular culture. The book covers reproductive issues, eugenics, genetic discrimination (e.g., by insurance companies, educational settings, and workplaces), intelligence, criminal behavior, homosexuality, and addiction. <ref name="Alper, Joseph (1996)" /> <ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /> While the book received support from critics overall, some called for "fewer examples and a more systematic analysis" of the issues.<ref name="Conrad, Peter (1996)" /><ref name="Einon, Dorothy (1996)">{{cite journal |last1=Einon |first1=Dorothy |title=Reviewed Work(s). The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon by Dorothy Nelkin and M. Susan Lindee |journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology |date=March 1996 |volume=71 |issue=1 |page=109 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3037835 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press}}</ref> sacred entity — almost magical and mythical<ref name="Conrad, Peter (1996)">{{cite journal |last1=Conrad |first1=Peter |title=Reviewed Work(s): The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon by Dorothy Nelkin and M. Susan Lindee |journal=Contemporary Socioloty |date=January 1996 |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=124-125 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2077015 |accessdate=28 April 2020 |publisher=American Sociological Association}}</ref> — and is being used to "explore fundamental questions about human life, to define the essence of human existence, and to imagine immortality."<ref name="Alper, Joseph (1996)">{{cite journal |last1=Alper |first1=Joseph S. |title=Reviewed Work(s): The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon by Dorothy Nelkin and M. Susan Lindee |journal=Journal of Public Health Policy |date=1996 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=241-244 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3342701 |accessdate=28 April 2020 |publisher=Palsgrave Macmillan Journals}}</ref> The authors researched how the media (e.g., books, newspapers, magazine and journal articles, movies, and comic books) impacted genetic ideas within popular culture. The book covers reproductive issues, eugenics, genetic discrimination (e.g., by insurance companies, educational settings, and workplaces), intelligence, criminal behavior, homosexuality, and addiction. <ref name="Alper, Joseph (1996)" /><ref name="New Genetics and Society (2004)" /> While the book received support from critics overall, some called for "fewer examples and a more systematic analysis" of the issues.<ref name="Conrad, Peter (1996)" /><ref name="Einon, Dorothy (1996)">{{cite journal |last1=Einon |first1=Dorothy |title=Reviewed Work(s). The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon by Dorothy Nelkin and M. Susan Lindee |journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology |date=March 1996 |volume=71 |issue=1 |page=109 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3037835 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press}}</ref>


==Personal life== ==Personal life==
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* ''The Atom Besieged: Extra-Parliamentary Dissent in France and Germany'' (with Michael Pollak; 1981). MIT Press. {{ISBN|0-262-64021-X}}<ref name="Martin, Sandra (1982)">{{cite news |last1=Martin |first1=Sandra |title=Paperbacks.The problems inherent in the deluge of rhetoric in the nuclear age: perspective is everything |work=The Globe and Mail |date=May 15, 1982 |location=Toronto, Ontario |page=E.15}}</ref> * ''The Atom Besieged: Extra-Parliamentary Dissent in France and Germany'' (with Michael Pollak; 1981). MIT Press. {{ISBN|0-262-64021-X}}<ref name="Martin, Sandra (1982)">{{cite news |last1=Martin |first1=Sandra |title=Paperbacks.The problems inherent in the deluge of rhetoric in the nuclear age: perspective is everything |work=The Globe and Mail |date=May 15, 1982 |location=Toronto, Ontario |page=E.15}}</ref>
* '''' (1982). New York: W.W. Norton. {{ISBN|0-8070-3155-0}} * '''' (1982). New York: W.W. Norton. {{ISBN|0-8070-3155-0}}
* ''Workers at Risk: Voices from the workplace'' (with M.S. Brown; 1984). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|0-226-57128-9}}<ref name="Keller, Bill (1984)">{{cite news |last1=Keller |first1=Bill |title=Workers are often a hazard to themselves |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/08/weekinreview/workers-are-often-a-hazard-to-themselves.html |accessdate=21 March 2020 |work=New York Times |issue=Late Edition (East Coast) |date=July 8, 1984 |location=New York, New York |page=A.8}}</ref> <ref name="DeWolf, Rose (1986)">{{cite news |last1=DeWolf |first1=Rose |title=Risk-takers love living on the edge |work=Philadelphia Daily News |date=February 10, 1986 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=33}}</ref> * ''Workers at Risk: Voices from the workplace'' (with M.S. Brown; 1984). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|0-226-57128-9}}<ref name="Keller, Bill (1984)">{{cite news |last1=Keller |first1=Bill |title=Workers are often a hazard to themselves |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/08/weekinreview/workers-are-often-a-hazard-to-themselves.html |accessdate=21 March 2020 |work=New York Times |issue=Late Edition (East Coast) |date=July 8, 1984 |location=New York, New York |page=A.8}}</ref><ref name="DeWolf, Rose (1986)">{{cite news |last1=DeWolf |first1=Rose |title=Risk-takers love living on the edge |work=Philadelphia Daily News |date=February 10, 1986 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=33}}</ref>
* ''The Language of Risk: Conflicting Perspectives in Occupational Health'' (1985). SAGE Publications. {{ISBN|0-8039-2467-4}} * ''The Language of Risk: Conflicting Perspectives in Occupational Health'' (1985). SAGE Publications. {{ISBN|0-8039-2467-4}}
* ''Selling Science: How the press covers science and technology'' (1987). W.H., Freeman Press. Translated into Japanese and Spanish. {{ISBN|0-7167-2595-9}} * ''Selling Science: How the press covers science and technology'' (1987). W.H., Freeman Press. Translated into Japanese and Spanish. {{ISBN|0-7167-2595-9}}

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Dorothy Nelkin
Born(1933-07-30)July 30, 1933
Boston, United States
DiedMay 28, 2003(2003-05-28) (aged 69)
Manhattan, United States
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materCornell University
Known forRelationship between science and society
AwardsJohn Desmond Bernal Prize (1988)
Scientific career
FieldsSociology
InstitutionsCornell University
New York University

Dorothy Wolfers Nelkin ((1933-07-30)July 30, 1933 – (2003-05-28)May 28, 2003) was an American sociologist of science most noted for her work researching and chronicling interplay between science, technology and the general public. Her work often highlighted the ramifications of unchecked scientific advances and potential threats to privacy and civil liberties. She was the author or co-author of 26 books, including Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology, The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age, and Body Bazaar: The Market for Human Tissue in the Biotechnology Age. She served on governmental and other advisory boards such as the National Center for Science Education, the United States Human Genome Project, and the Society for Social Studies of Science. Nelkin also wrote about creation science and, in 1981, testified for the plaintiffs in McLean v. Arkansas. Nelkin often addressed the legal community, political leaders, and the general public on issues concerning science studies, bioethics, and the public assessment of science and technology.

Education

Nelkin earned a B.A. from the Department of Philosophy at Cornell University in 1954. After earning her degree, Nelkin devoted nearly a decade to home life and motherhood before returning to Cornell in 1963. By the 1970s, Nelkin was a research associate at Cornell. She held this position for several years before being awarded a full professorship, despite having no other formal credentials besides the B.A. In 1987, Nelkin left Cornell to join New York University as a visiting professor. By 1990, she was a University Professor at NYU and a member of the Law School faculty.

Career

Nelkin began her career by researching the experiences of African-American migrant farm workers in New York State. Her work then turned to issues of nuclear power and the role scientists played in public decision making. This experience sparked a long-term interest in public controversies.

Nelkin testified in the Arkansas creationism trial and wrote about creation science, warning that limited public understanding of science made them vulnerable to groups that "try to use science as a means to establish their own legitimacy."

As her career progressed, Nelkin focused on the "uneasy relationship" between science, technology, and society. She wrote about media influences on science and technology in Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology. This work lead to an interest in biomedicine, the aesthetic of DNA, and civil liberties. Her book The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon, co-written with Susan Lindee was used as a teaching text. She followed up with two other books, Body Bazaar: The Market for Human Tissue in the Biotechnology Age with Lori Andrews and The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age with Suzanne Anker.

Nelkin served as an advisor to the United States government's Human Genome Project, among other policy boards and assessment panels internationally. She was a founding member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal Public Understanding of Science. She also served on the Advisory Council for the National Center for Science Education. She served on editorial boards for journals in sociology, science studies, law, history and public health.

Science studies

Nelkin became interested in the issues of nuclear power when, in 1967, New York State Electric & Gas (NYSE&G) proposed to build a nuclear power plant on Cayuga Lake. She wrote Nuclear Power and its Critics: The Cayuga Lake Controversy (1971) as a case study sponsored by the Cornell University's Program on Science, Technology and Society. The book documented the differing stakeholder perspectives, including scientists from Cornell University, the Citizen's Committee to Save Cayuga Lake, representatives from the Atomic Energy Commission, New York State Department of Health, and NYSE&G Critics noted the book was a "painstaking history" that may not be "useful or interesting" to the general reader, but valuable in that it posed questions about the role of scientists in public debate, as well as how the scientific dimension was portrayed in the media. This project marked the beginning of Nelkin's long-term interest in public controversies, including sound pollution in relation to Logan Airport, creationism, atomic power, and the application and management of technology.

Creation Science

Nelkin's book Science Textbook Controversies and the Politics of Equal Time (MIT, 1977), documented the "religious and cultural war" of the early 1970s in which religious groups in the United States challenged the teaching of evolution in school textbooks and argued in favor of "creation-science". As one critic wrote, Nelkin was "sympathetic, but alarmed" at what she considered a "growth of intolerance, a new rigidity in values."

In 1982, Nelkin followed up with The Creation Controversy: Science or Scripture in the Schools. In it, she documented various state and local conflicts over science textbooks and the teaching of biological evolution. These issues included local control, public participation in the assessment of science and technology, and the increasingly disputed role of expertise in public policy." Nelkin asserted that fundamentalists focus on education because it is one area where parents can "exert control over their lives and families". According to Nelkin, there is a link between creationism and areas of high technology," with some creationists representing themselves as scientists. This rising interest in creation science, according to Nelkin, was an outcropping of popular anxieties about science and technology. One critic called the book "balanced" and "richly factual," but expressed concerns that Nelkin's approach did not take into account differences among religious beliefs. "Such a sociological approach accordingly misses the subtleties of the religious issues that must be considered to explain creation-science."

“Biologists and creationists alike claim the other bases its beliefs on faith; each group argues with passion for its own dispassionate objectivity; and each bemoans the moral, political and legal implications of the alternative ideology.”

— Dorothy Nelkin

Science and the press

In Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology, Nelkin explored the cultural pressures which shape the reporting of science in the popular press. It reflects her concern about "science by press conference." She posited that scientists and journalists have differing agendas that cause a "distortion of scientific progress." The culture of journalism and pressures to respond to events causes the superficiality or oversimplification of science reporting in the press, raising concerns when scientific breakthroughs and calamities (e.g., AIDS, Three Mile Island, the Challenger Disaster) are overstated. The scientific community, on the other hand, deals with the "continuous process of research." Their distrust of reporters and promotion of their own work to get funding are factors which contribute to the problem. While critics found the book to be "lucid, readable and painless," and "a very good description of the way science journalism is practiced today, to some, it offered "little in the way of prescription for better science reportage."

"In reporting each finding, the media often does not convey the message that the scientific process is not certain and that the finding is tentative and may in fact be turned around by other studies or even by closer examination of the same data. The public needs to know that a scientific finding is the best guess at the moment, it is not the final truth.

— Dorothy Nelkin

Biomedicine

Dangerous Diagnostics: The Social Power of Biological Information, a book Nelkin co-wrote with Lawrence Tancredi, was critically viewed as provocative and explored issues with biomedicine, including the use and misuse of biological information. The authors expressed concern that medical and psychological information, obtained in educational and medical settings, would be used by insurance companies, schools, workplaces, and courts to profile people. These concerns raise issues of civil liberties, human integrity, and personal privacy in the form of institutionalized social control.

DNA

In The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon, with co-writer Susan Lindee, Nelkin explored how the gene was being defined and exploited by popular culture. The authors argue that the gene, as a cultural icon, has become a sacred entity — almost magical and mythical — and is being used to "explore fundamental questions about human life, to define the essence of human existence, and to imagine immortality." The authors researched how the media (e.g., books, newspapers, magazine and journal articles, movies, and comic books) impacted genetic ideas within popular culture. The book covers reproductive issues, eugenics, genetic discrimination (e.g., by insurance companies, educational settings, and workplaces), intelligence, criminal behavior, homosexuality, and addiction. While the book received support from critics overall, some called for "fewer examples and a more systematic analysis" of the issues.

Personal life

Nelkin was born on July 30, 1933, in Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts. Her mother was a homemaker and her father, Henry L. Wolfers, founded Wolfers Lighting Company in Boston. Nelkin was the first member of her family to attend college.

Nelkin was married to physicist Mark S Nelkin. They had a daughter, Lisa.

Nelkin died of cancer on May 28, 2003.

Awards and Honors


Selected publications

References

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