This article discusses the emergence of a patenting culture in university science. Patenting culture is examined empirically in the context of the increasing commercialization of science, and theoretically within debates over scientific "credibility. " The article explores the translation of academic credit into patents, and vice versa, and argues that this process raises new questions for our understanding of scientific recognition and of scientists' networks. In particular, the analysis suggests that scientists must move between two distinct social worlds to manage the rewards that academic and patent cultures carry.
This is a Comment on Greg Myers' paper on the writing and rewriting of patent applications by two biological scientists. It draws on data from our own study of patenting in UK public sector biosciences. While agreeing with much that Myers says, we place the issues in a wider context of developing relationships between industry and academe. The emergence of new networks blurs boundaries, and makes apparently separate arenas less distinct.
To many she was the ‘lady of botany’ and young biologists should think of an acute and powerful observer wrapt in penetrating and ever more powerful philosophy, who grasped the world without travel, and how they attract into the circle of discussion such another if they are fortunate.
This paper looks at the context-dependent nature of the gendering of technology. The case study reported on explores the relationship between scientists and machines - both inside and outside - the laboratory, and considers how this affects the gender division of labour in the company concerned. The stereotypical view, of women as technophobic and men as technophilic, is challenged. However, the results show how the dominant masculinised discourse around technology is implicated in the under-representation of women in senior positions. The paper argues that, in addition to structural analysis of occupational segregation, an understanding of the dynamics of gender symbolism and identity also need to be incorporated into the debate.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.