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" The social construction of orphan drugs : "
Crompton, Helen Patricia.
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Latin Dissertation
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| Record Number
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1095802
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TLets412483
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| Main Entry
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Crompton, Helen Patricia.
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| Title & Author
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The social construction of orphan drugs :\ Crompton, Helen Patricia.
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| College
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Manchester Metropolitan University ;
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| Date
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2005
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| student score
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2005
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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Innovation has been studied from the perspectives of social psychology, economics, businessstudies, sociology and science and technology studies. Collyer (1996) claims that factors inthe social or technical environment are subsumed in psychology, by an emphasis on thepersonality structure or cognitive activity within the individual. In the area of businessstudies and economics the emphasis has been on the development and transfer of products tothe market rather than on the creation of new products - largely ignoring inventions that haveno, or limited, commercial application (like orphan drugs)Few studies have concentrated on the social, cultural or political process of innovation, thefocus being on the adoption and diffusion processes. According to Collyer (1996) moststudies, which theorise the social formation of ideas and knowledge, focus on the locus ofscientific knowledge production, in the research laboratory (see Knorr- Cetina 1995 inJasanoff et al 1995, Latour 1987). These studies ignore the political and ideologicalinfluences from external sources and other sites of knowledge production (ergo Mode 2 sitesin industry and for example, medical practitioners seeking solutions to practical problems, orespecially in this case the patients and their advocates). Mode 1 (knowledge production) ismainly to be found in basic research, mostly academic, producing scientific documentation.Mode 2 is mainly to be found in applied research, mostly industrial, producing patentsthrough the development of applications or processes. There may be crossovers into strategicapplied research by both modes but in general they are different types of knowledgeproduction, or the mechanism by which research benefits economic growth. Nowotny et al(2001) suggest that society is changing and the line that previously separated science andsociety is continually being transgressed. New networks are forming and the public speaksback to science creating new public arenas ('agoras') where the constitution of science policyinvolves 'negotiation', 'mediation', 'consultation' and 'contestation' challenging science andtechnology to produce 'socially robust' knowledge. In the orphan drug 'market' we can seeindustry, researchers (public and private), charitable organisations (as advocates), regulators(politics) and venture capitalists brought together in a public forum. This theses makes asignificant contribution to knowledge by using a social constructionist approach as theinnovation process unfolds and by providing a further methodological conceptual frameworkfor Mode 2 knowledge production. Whilst providing evidence for Nowotny et aI's agora it also provides a model of the relationship between scientific expertise and policy makingextending the decisionist and technocratic model following Edwards's (1999) claim thatthere is no adequate model available to demonstrate the relationships between scientificexpertise, public policy making and the public.
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Manchester Metropolitan University ;
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