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OverviewIn the short, turbulent history of AIDS research and treatment, the boundaries between scientist insiders and lay outsiders have been crisscrossed to a degree never before seen in medical history. Steven Epstein's astute and readable investigation focuses on the critical question of ""how certainty is constructed or deconstructed,"" leading us through the views of medical researchers, activists, policy makers, and others to discover how knowledge about AIDS emerges out of what he calls ""credibility struggles."" Epstein shows the extent to which AIDS research has been a social and political phenomenon and how the AIDS movement has transformed biomedical research practices through its capacity to garner credibility by novel strategies. Epstein finds that nonscientist AIDS activists have gained enough of a voice in the scientific world to shape NIH–sponsored research to a remarkable extent. Because of the blurring of roles and responsibilities, the production of biomedical knowledge about AIDS does not, he says, follow the pathways common to science; indeed, AIDS research can only be understood as a field that is unusually broad, public, and contested. He concludes by analyzing recent moves to democratize biomedicine, arguing that although AIDS activists have set the stage for new challenges to scientific authority, all social movements that seek to democratize expertise face unusual difficulties. Avoiding polemics and accusations, Epstein provides a benchmark account of the AIDS epidemic to date, one that will be as useful to activists, policy makers, and general readers as to sociologists, physicians, and scientists. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Steven EpsteinPublisher: University of California Press Imprint: University of California Press Volume: 7 Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 3.00cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.680kg ISBN: 9780520214453ISBN 10: 0520214455 Pages: 480 Publication Date: 15 September 1998 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Out of stock  The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available. Table of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS Introduction: Controversy, Credibility, and the Public Character of AIDS Research The Crisis of Credibility and the Rise of the AIDS Movement Analyzing AIDS Controversies The Plan of the Book Conceptualizing AIDS: Some Intellectual Debts PART ONE: THE POLITICS OF CAUSATION 1. The Nature of a New Threat The Discovery of a Gay Disease (1981-1982) Lifestyle vs. Virus (1982-1983) The Triumph of Retrovirology (1982-1984) 2. HIV and the Consolidation of Certainty The Construction of Scientific Proof (1984-1986) HIV as Obligatory Passage Point 3. Reopening the Causation Controversy From Deafening Silence to the Pages of Science (1987-1988) Consolidation and Refinement (1989-1991) 4. The Debate That Wouldn't Die The Controversy Reignites (1991-1992.) The Dynamics of Closure: Whither the Controversy? (1992-1995) Causation and Credibility PART TWO: THE POLITICS OF TREATMENT 5. Points of Departure Targeting a Retrovirus (1984-1986) Clinical Trials Take Center Stage (1986-1987) 6. Drugs into Bodies Gaining Access (1987-1988) A Knowledge-Empowered Movement 7. The Critique of Pure Science AZT and the Politics of Interpretation (1989-1990) Activism and the Manufacture of Knowledge (1989-1991) 8. Dilemmas and Divisions in Science and Politics Combination Therapy and the Surrogate Markers Debate (1989-1992.) Inside and Outside the System 9. Clinical Trials and Tribulations The Search for New Directions (199z-1993) Living with Uncertainty (1993-1995) Conclusion: Credible Knowledge, Hierarchies of Expertise, and the Politics of Participation in Biomedicine Science and the Struggle for Credibility The Transformation of AIDS Research The Legacy of AIDS Activism METHODOLOGICAL APPENDIX NOTES INDEXReviewsImportant, timely, and well written. --Paul Volberding, New England Journal of Medicine Author InformationSteven Epstein is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, San Diego. The work on which this book is based won the American Sociological Association's award for best dissertation of the year. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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