Conference

[9unm3741]

I am officially going to San Diego in October to present my research at the society for the social studies of science (4S) conference.  The last time I went, in 2011 when the conference was in Cleveland, my research was pretty well received (amongst the few people who actually went to my talk that is).  This year I am presenting an abstract for a paper entitled "Struggles for Power and the Privatization of Spaceflight."

Essentially the argument I make in my paper is that the privatization effort currently underway in the U.S. is not a structural shift in the way the U.S. does spaceflight.  Instead, it is indicative of a shift in the power struggle between two ideological groups:  industrialists in favor of a nationalistic space program, and neoliberals in favor of deregulation and federal market protections.  This is important because the ideological underpinnings of our current reform efforts will shape the next stage of space development in a way that the U.S. may not be able to undo.  If you're wondering, I'm not actually in favor of either camp, and I'm frankly disappointed at the uniformity of the actors involved in this debate.  Lets hope this one goes over as well as the last, and that I have the time and motivation to edit it to publishable quality.

Comments

[batrachian]

Oh, whoa. That sounds like a really interesting paper. Best of luck at the conference :)

[trombonish]

Agreed, if you can, I'd like to read it when it's done - I'm no expert on the subject, but I do have opinions on government space work done on a "cost plus" basis, and hope that the privitization does push for higher efficiencies.