Representing the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge and Law

Abstract

The sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) has become widely cited in policy contexts including discussion of law, science, and society. The following article provides a textual examination of how some of the work of eminent SSK and law scholar Sheila Jasanoff has been received in U.S. legal scholarship. Focusing on debate sparked by the 1993 Supreme Court case of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the authors argue that textual evidence suggests a resistance within U.S. legal scholarship to the incorporation of the more radical implications of SSK perspectives.