The Organizational Ecology of Science Advice in America

One way that the American government has changed in the past 50 years is through the establishment and expansion of organizations providing technical expertise for decision-making. This essay reviews the performance of current structures from the diverse vantage points of elites, beuracracies, the general public, and activist minorities, drawing on studies of the Carnegie Commision on Science, Technology, and Government, and the cultural theory of Mary Douglas et. al. The apparently mature institutional landscape may be ripe for change.