The Institutionalization of Science

Paper Summary:

The First Industrial Revolution (1760-1850) had an immense impact on the professionalization of science in Britain, France and Germany. This paper traces the history of the process of changing science from a field that belonged to "some enlightened entrepreneurs and a handful of aristocratic patrons" to a field in the which the state sponsored new initiatives and created a professional and well-defined discipline. The paper compares the process of institutionalization and the creation of modern universities between Britain and the rest of Europe.

From the Paper:

"Much of the system of technical training--on a state-supported basis--was continued even after the Revolution as the general notion of centralized education and training remained a favored plan with nearly all successive rulers of France. Indeed, although the sluggishness of the Ancient Regime and the upheavals that followed the Revolution contributed to France's failure to industrialize in the eighteenth century, the Revolution proved to be the salvation of French science and "helped decisively shift the center of scientific excellence back from England to the continent" (Rose & Rose, 1969, p. 19). The liberalizing impetus behind the Revolution was opposed to science as an attribute of aristocratic culture and many revolutionaries considered technological advance to be merely a means of impoverishing artisans and the emergent working class. But there was also a firm conviction that, in the hands of the people, science would be a powerful force for the nation's good."

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