NASA Revisited: Theory, Analogy, and Public Sociology

Abstract

This ethnographic account of the rituals of risk and error after NASA's Columbia accident reveals the mechanisms by which sociological theory traveled across the disciplinary boundary to public and policy domains. The analysis shows that analogy was the instigator of it all, enabled by the social mechanisms of professional legitimacy, conversation, technologies, time, networks, and social support. It demonstrates the work sociologists do when theory travels from professional sociology to nonacademic audiences and what happens to the theory and the sociologist in the process. It reveals the tensions when professional sociology, critical sociology, public sociology, and policy sociology are joined. A study of sociology in the field, it shows how sociologists negotiate the meaning of their work in a nonacademic situation. Thus, this account contributes to research and theory on social boundaries, the diffusion of ideas, the sociology of scientific knowledge, and current debates about public sociology and the role of the sociologist, adding to the sociology of our own work. At 9:00 a.m. EST on February 1, 2003, NASA's space shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it was streaking across the sky over Texas toward the landing site at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Immediately, NASA declared a "shuttle contingency," executing the contingency action plan that the space agency had established after the Challenger accident 17 years before. As part of that plan, NASA activated the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) to identify the causes of this second shuttle disaster. The technical failure, the CAIB concluded, was initiated 81.7

Does Business and Society Scholarship Matter to Society? Pursuing a Normative Agenda with Critical Realism and Neoinstitutional Theory

“…Despite the potential for B&S scholars to utilize their skills to diagnose harmful practices, offer solutions, cultivate networks, and promote social movement strategies, any effort in this regard is contingent on connecting with relevant audiences (Vaughan, 2006). While current B&S scholarship limits its efficacy by targeting firms exclusively, shifting to the field level points to a number of additional audiences such as the media, social movements, and community members.…”

“…Still, translation is required for ideas to flow amongst disparate groups (Boxenbaum and Battilana, 2005). In addition to publishing in academic journals, B&S scholars should pursue alternate avenues for research dissemination, endeavor to know the interests and identities of target audiences, and use this to translate their research into forms that are intelligible to these groups (see Vaughan, 2006 for a discussion on the use of negotiation and analogy to translate scholarly research for consumption by nonacademics). In many ways this endeavor harkens the role of 'public academic.'…”

Public Ethnography; Ethnography as Public Sociology

“…To be sure, it was read by adults as well; the book and its principal author were the subject of a Time magazine cover story in 1954. 17 A notable instance followed Diane Vaughan's consultancy for NASA after the Columbia shuttle disaster (Vaughan 2006). That work generated a renewed interest in her book about the Challenger disaster (Vaughan 1996), turning it into a public ethnography.…”

How Public Are We? Coverage of Sociology by the Associated Press

“…In some cases, these analyses have been discussed under the rubric of public sociology, while others have simply recounted their own experience and perspective having served as a news source. As an example of the former, Vaughan (2006) wrote about her public sociological presence when her expertise on organizational failure was called upon, both by the press and by NASA itself, in the days, weeks, and ultimately months following the Columbia disaster. Serving in the capacities as professional, policy, critical, and public sociologist, Vaughan described in detail her experience crossing the boundaries of these areas of her work.…”