Organizing integrity: American science and the creation of public interest organizations, 1955-1975

The power and prestige of science is typically thought to be grounded in the ability of scientists to draw strong distinctions between scientific and nonscientific interests. This article shows that it is also grounded in a contradictory act: the demonstration of the compatibility between scientific and nonscientific interests. Between 1955 and 1975, American political protest forced scientists to find ways to reconcile these contradictions. One way in which this reconciliation was accomplished was through the formation of public interest science organizations, which permitted the preservation of organizational representations of pure, unified science, while simultaneously assuming responsibilities to serve the public good.