Reiner Grundmann

Reiner Grundmann
Born 29 September 1955
Freudenstadt, West Germany
Residence Sutton Coldfield, England
Nationality German
Fields
Institutions
Alma mater Free University Berlin
Thesis Marxism and Ecology (1991)
Doctoral advisor
Influences
Website
nottingham.academia.edu/ReinerGrundmann

Reiner Grundmann, (born 29 September 1955) near Freudenstadt is Professor of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at the University of Nottingham and Director of its interdisciplinary STS Research Priority Group.[1] He is a German sociologist and political scientist who has resided in the UK since 1997. Previous appointments include Aston University and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.

Life and academic career

Grundmann took his A-levels at Schelztor Gymnasium in Esslingen. He studied sociology in Berlin and received his doctorate 1989 at the European University Institute (EUI), Florence (Italy). His habilitation about environmental policy on the ozone layer challenge took place at the University of Bielefeld in 1998 under the auspices of Peter Weingart from the Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Bielefeld. Grundmann held post-doctoral positions, at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, at the Graduate college Risk and private law at the University of Bremen, and at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne. In 1997 he took up a position at Aston University and is since 2012 at the University of Nottingham. Grundmann is a keen cyclist and competed till recently in road races [2] and is still participating in individual time trials. He also has an interest in art and visual representations.[3]

Academic interests

Grundmann has contributed to four areas of research: social theory, sustainability topics, the relation between knowledge and decision making, and media analysis. In most of his work he uses a comparative methodology. He received research grants on topics such as urban habitat sustainability (most recently from the Leverhulme Trust), climate change reporting in the media, the ozone controversy in science and society, and the future of the automobile.

He has been influenced by Niklas Luhmann's system theory and Bruno Latour's Actor–network theory, but remains ambivalent about both. His position has been discussed on the theoretical level in a controversy with Klaus Peter Japp about Luhmann's system theory and Ulrich Becks risk sociology.[4] However, in a recent contribution he has become more appreciative of Luhmann's analysis of risk society.[5]

Grundmann's interest in the role of expertise in modern society is influenced by frameworks such as Post-normal science and Roger Pielke Jr.'s Honest broker. While he accepts the role of science as agenda setter in the political process, he doubts a direct influence of "certain knowledge" or "settled science" in political decision making.[6]

Social theory

Grundmann started his academic career with an analysis of the legacy of Marx’s theory for the understanding of environmental problems. This work was a direct product of his PhD research at the EUI in Florence, in the late 1980s under the supervision of Steven Lukes. The thesis was published by Oxford University Press in 1991 and a related article appeared the same year in the New Left Review.[7] Whilst the book received some praise and critical attention at the time, it was published at a difficult historical juncture—after the fall of communism there was little enthusiasm for theoretical frameworks inspired by Marx. This has changed, and the forthcoming Chinese translation indicates a growing interest in the topic. In his book he concluded "that the pursuit of productivity and the development of a healthy environment need not be mutually exclusive."[8]

In the years that followed, he moved away from social theory and started engaging with issues about environmental sustainability from the viewpoint of science and technology studies. This move was inspired by the insight of Karl Marx that technology reveals the active transformation of nature, performed by humans and their social forms of organization.[9]

A partial return to social theory was prompted by the co-operation with Nico Stehr with whom Grundmann worked since the late 1990s. Their common work on Werner Sombart led to a re-evaluation of the legacy of this pioneering German sociologist, examining in particular his low salience in the postwar period.[10]

Sustainability and large technical systems

The study of science and technology related issues led him to research large technical systems, which he did during his time at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) in the early 1990s. His special interest was focused on the future of automobility. In the mid 1990s he spent three years at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne where he studied the efforts to protect the ozone layer (see as well ozone depletion and global warming). This research was based on interviews with scientists, policy makers, and experts, in the USA and Germany. It was published in German in 1999 and in 2001 in English.[11][12] This work is unique in its challenge to widespread historical accounts which tend to explain the success of ozone policies either as a result of scientific consensus, or as an outcome of corporate power. In contrast, he shows the relevance of transnational policy networks. The successful Montreal Protocol is often taken as an exemplar case which serves as the model for an (so far elusive) climate treaty. Grundmann claims that several problematic lessons have been drawn from this case.[13]

Relation between knowledge and decision making

Together with Stehr, Grundmann published various pieces on the role of knowledge and expertise in modern societies, including two monographs in 2012.[14][15] In The Power of Scientific Knowledge three case studies are presented, Keynesianism, Race Science & Eugenics, and Climate change. Based on the conceptual distinction between knowledge for practice and practical knowledge the argument is made that scientists who were advancing practical knowledge were able to make a difference in policy. His work shows a stunning mismatch between Keynes's one man show and the huge enterprise of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and an interesting parallel between the belief in science based policies in eugenics and climate change.

In their book on expert knowledge (Experts: The knowledge and power of expertise), Grundmann and Stehr develop a specific concept of expertise. Contrary to common definitions that stress the centrality of scientists as experts, expertise is defined as mediating between knowledge production and knowledge application. With the expansion of knowledge intensive professions, ever more persons move into positions of experts—for some issues, some of the time. The rise of the knowledge society leads to a proliferation of knowledge sources which has not been sufficiently acknowledged by some dominant theories of expertise.

Climate change is a prominent current case which highlights the question about knowledge and decision making. Grundmann thinks that there exists a mistaken belief that the presence of a scientific consensus will enable ambitious climate policies. He considers that a much praised study overstates the case for scientific consensus.[16] In contrast, Grundmann argues that many examples from public policy show that science hardly determines policy outcomes. Examples such acid rain ,[17] smoking regulations,[18] ozone depleting substances, genetically modified foods[19] show how cultural, economic and political issues exercised a strong influence. Conversely, the presence of an international science consensus (through the IPCC) has led to different national policies, none of which is on track to achieving the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions that the IPCC Summary for Policymakers postulate as necessary.[20][21]

Media analysis

Over the past years Grundmann has become increasingly interested in the media discourse on climate change, taking up an earlier interest in the comparative analysis of media discourses.[22] Together with computational linguists and sociologists he has started comparative analysis of climate change reporting in various countries.[6][23][24]

Peer review and climate change

Grundmann is a frequent peer reviewer for many academic journals, publishing houses, and research funding organisations. His own experiences with peer review of a paper about the Climatic Research Unit email controversy issue are described in an interview with Hans von Storch on Storch's Klimazwiebel blog.[25] According von Storch's intro, Grundmann's paper Climategate and The Scientific Ethos[26] faced severe resistance from social science journals before it was published in Science, Technology, & Human Values.[25] Grundmann took the affair as reason to state a politicization of climate science which makes science, technology and society (STS) scholars feel uncomfortable with the topic of climate change.[27] Grundmann identifies a problematic approach of climate scientists who believe to have a prerogative to make political suggestions in the field "which society at large should take up because scientists always know best"[25] combined with a basic lack of actual[27] feasible solution proposals.[25] He sees climate change as a long term issue requiring more public involvement and debate, not less[25] and asks social scientists to study the interaction between climate and society.[27] With regard to his comparison of the eugenic movement and climate change activism,[28] he sees a strong belief in science as being a base of politics in both cases. Grundmann states that the very base of sociology as a science was historically to fight different forms of naturalist determinism (environmental determinism, biological determinism) as of the likes of Herbert Spencer or, in Germany, Ferdinand Tönnies.[29] However, the sociologist standpoint, Grundmann calls it sociologism, itself an "ism", came at a cost, as sociology for a long time avoided discussions about the nature-human interaction at all or denied its relevance. Grundmann, as early as 1997, perceived a predominance of natural science in politics, as climate scientists used a successful framing strategy to connect relatively soft scientific findings with straightforward political goals.[29] He asks whether sociology would be in a position to examine ecological problems but avoid to "repolish soild naturalistic goods".[30] Grundmann sees Marx's idea of a nature-society-dialectics as a base for a specific sociological answer, besides the analysis of networks and actors of scientists involved in such framings and to determine their interests and ideas.[29]

Other activities

Grundmann is a coauthor of The Hartwell Paper and together with Hans von Storch blogger at Klimazwiebel.[31] He was President (2009–10) of the Sociology and Social Policy Section of the British Science Association.

Publications and books

Examples of peer reviewed publications

References

  1. ↑ STS. STS Priority Group "STS Priority Group Weblink". Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  2. ↑ Grundmann at the Royal Sutton
  3. ↑ Grundmanns tumblr account
  4. ↑ Wo steht die Risikosoziologie? [ZfS, Jg. 28, Heft 4 (1999) [Wer hat Angst vor F. Nietzsche? Replik on Klaus-Peter Japp answer]
  5. ↑ Ökologische Kommunikation, in: Luhmann-Handbuch. Leben - Werk – Wirkung77, Oliver Jahraus/Armin Nassehi/Mario Grizelj/Irmhild Saake/Christian Kirchmeier/Julian Müller (eds.) ISBN 3-476-02368-0
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Grundmann Technische Problemlösung, Verhandeln und umfassende Problemlösung, (eng. technical problem solving, negotiating, and comprehensive problem solving) in Gesellschaftliche Komplexität und kollektive Handlungsfähigkeit (Social complexity and collective action), ed. Schimank, U. (2000). Frankfurt/Main: Campus, p.154-182 book summary at the Max Planck Gesellschaft
  7. ↑ ‘The Ecological Challenge to Marxism’ New Left Review 187 (May–June), 103-120
  8. ↑ Entry of the doctorate at Cadmus
  9. ↑ ‘Technology reveals the active relation of man to nature, the direct process of the production of his life, and thereby it also lays bare the process of the production of the social relations of his life and of the mental conceptions that flow from these relations.’ Footnote 4 in Karl Marx, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume 1, trans. Ben Fowkes, Penguin Classics (London, New York: Penguin Books, 1990), p. 493.
  10. ↑ ‘Why is Werner Sombart not part of the core of classical sociologists? From fame to (near) oblivion’ Journal of Classical Sociology 1 (2): 257–287
  11. ↑ Transnationale Umweltpolitik zum Schutz der Ozonschicht
  12. ↑ Transnational Environmental Policy: Reconstructing Ozone. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415224233
  13. ↑ (2005) Ozone and Climate: Scientific consensus and leadership, Science, Technology, and Human Values 31(1): 73-101 .
  14. ↑ Nico Stehr, Reiner Grundmann: The Power of Scientific Knowledge. From Research to Public Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107022-72-0
  15. ↑ Nico Stehr, Reiner Grundmann: Experts: The knowledge and power of expertise. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-60803-9
  16. ↑ Cook et al., Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature
  17. ↑ Maarten A. Hajer, The Politics of Environmental Discourse: Ecological Modernization and the Policy Process, 1995. ISBN 9780198293330
  18. ↑ Debunking sceptical propaganda Book review by Reiner Grundmann, BioSocieties (2013) 8, 370–374. doi:10.1057/biosoc.2013.15
  19. ↑ Susan Wright, Molecular Politics: Developing American and British Regulatory Policy for Genetic Engineering, 1972-1982 (1994). ISBN 9780226910659
  20. ↑ Reiner Grundmann (2005) Ozone and Climate: Scientific consensus and leadership, Science, Technology, and Human Values 31(1): 73-101
  21. ↑ Schwarz, Susanne (13 April 2014). "IPCC Working group III".
  22. ↑ (2000) ‘National elites and transnational discourses in the Balkan war: a comparison between the French, German and British establishment press’ European Journal of Communication 15 (3): 299-320 (with Sue Wright and Dennis Smith).
  23. ↑ Disputed climate science in the media: Do countries matter? Public Understanding of Science doi: 10.1177/0963662512467732
  24. ↑ The Discourse of Climate Change: a corpus-based approach, Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines 4 (2): 113 – 133 (with Ramesh Krishnamurthy)
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 Tuesday, May 29, 2012 Interview with Reiner Grundmann by Hans von Storch
  26. ↑ Grundmann, Reiner (2012). "Climategate and the Scientific Ethos". Science, Technology & Human Values. doi:10.1177/0162243911432318.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Reiner Grundmann and Nico Stehr (2010). "Climate Change: What role for Sociology? A Response to Constance Lever-Tracy'". Current Sociology 58 (6): 897–910. doi:10.1177/0011392110376031.
  28. ↑ Stehr/Grundmann. (2012). The Power of Scientific Knowledge. From Research to Public Policy. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107022-72-0.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 Reiner Grundmann (1997). "Die soziologische Tradition und die natürliche Umwelt.". Verhandlungen des 28. Kongresses der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie in Dresden 1996. Hradil, Stefan (Ed.) ; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie (DGS) (Ed.): Differenz und Integration: die Zukunft moderner Gesellschaften. ISBN 3-593-35852-2, pp.333-550. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  30. ↑ Grundmann in DGS 1997, quote Wie kann die Soziologie ökologische Probleme thematisieren, ohne in den Verdacht zu geraten, naturalistische Ladenhüter aufzupolieren
  31. ↑ Thursday, September 19, 2013, The coming crisis of climate science? by Reiner Grundmann
  32. ↑ Nathan Young (2011). "BOOK REVIEW/COMPTE RENDU. Nico Stehr and Reiner Grundmann. Experts: The Know- ledge and Power of Expertise.". Canadian Journal of Sociology/Cahiers canadiens de sociologie (36(3)).

External links