Boundary work between research communities: Culture and power in a French nanosciences and nanotechnology hub

Abstract

Today, nanoscience and nanotechnology (NS/T) is one of the most visible domains of scientific activity. Its promises rest especially on a convergence dynamics that brings various research communities closer together. This convergence is interdisciplinary, but it also renews links between applied and basic science. Nanoscale-related folk myths and economic expectations are well documented, as are interventions of policymakers. Lab-level relations have on the other hand been less studied. Based on a qualitative study conducted in one of France’s main NS/T centres, this article shows how researchers experience boundaries in the workplace. Indeed, as local physicists are prompted to plan heterogeneous projects, they stress the importance of cultural and professional distinctions between local research communities. If Shinn’s ‘regimes of knowledge production’ offer useful conceptual tools to make sense of interactions and distinctions in this science and technology hub, the cultural dimension of exchanges and resistances has nevertheless to be emphasized in this framework. For the interviewed scientists, professional boundary work has furthermore a clear political meaning, while their collective rhetoric is also a way to claim credit in the local competition for institutional favours.