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Reiner Grundmann (born 29 September 1955 near Freudenstadt), is Professor of
Science and Technology Studies Science and technology studies (STS) or science, technology, and society is an interdisciplinary field that examines the creation, development, and consequences of science and technology in their historical, cultural, and social contexts. Histo ...
(STS) at the
University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...
and Director of its interdisciplinary STS Research Priority Group. He is a German sociologist and political scientist who has resided in the UK since 1997. Previous appointments include
Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston'' for post-nominals) is a public university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first College of a ...
and the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.


Life and academic career

Grundmann took his A-levels at Schelztor Gymnasium in Esslingen. He studied sociology in Berlin and received his doctorate 1989 at the
European University Institute The European University Institute (EUI) is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral research-intensive university and an intergovernmental organisation with juridical personality, established by its founding member states to contribu ...
(EUI),
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
(Italy). His habilitation about environmental policy on the
ozone layer The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth's stratosphere that absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. It contains a high concentration of ozone (O3) in relation to other parts of the a ...
challenge took place at the University of Bielefeld in 1998 under the auspices of Peter Weingart from the Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Bielefeld. Grundmann held post-doctoral positions, at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, at the Graduate college Risk and private law at the
University of Bremen The University of Bremen () is a public university in Bremen, Germany, with approximately 18,400 students from 117 countries. Its 12 faculties offer more than 100 degree programs. The University of Bremen has been among the top 50 European rese ...
, and at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne. In 1997 he took up a position at
Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston'' for post-nominals) is a public university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first College of a ...
and is since 2012 at the
University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...
. Grundmann's interest in the role of expertise in modern society is influenced by frameworks such as
Post-normal science Post-normal science (PNS) was developed in the 1990s by Silvio Funtowicz and Jerome R. Ravetz.Funtowicz, S. O. and Ravetz, J. R., 1991. "A New Scientific Methodology for Global Environmental Issues", in Costanza, R. (ed.), Ecological Economic ...
and Roger Pielke Jr.'s Honest broker. Both are in line with basic works in the sociology of science and technology doubting a direct influence of "certain knowledge" or "settled science" on political decision making, which is being discussed as the ''linear model of science policy interaction''.von Storch, H., Meinke, I., Stehr, N., Ratter, B., Krauß, W., Pielke, R., Grundmann, R., Reckermann, M., & Weisse, R. (2011)
Regional Climate Services illustrated with experiences from Northern Europe.
Zeitschrift für Umweltpolitik und Umweltrecht, 34(1), 1-15.
His work challenges widespread believes in global success or failure of environmental policy as result of scientific consensus, or as an outcome of corporate power. In contrast, he shows the relevance of transnational policy networks.


Social theory


Marxist view on Ecology

Grundmann started his academic career with an analysis of the legacy of Marx's theory for the understanding of environmental problems. This work was a direct product of his PhD research at the EUI in Florence, in the late 1980s under the supervision of
Steven Lukes Steven Michael Lukes (born 8 March 1941) is a British political and social theorist. Currently he is a professor of politics and sociology at New York University. He was formerly a professor at the University of Siena, the European University ...
. Grundmann described ecology as being no longer confined to the realms of biology since the 1970s. The term, as it had been coined in the 1870s by
Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; ; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, natural history, naturalist, eugenics, eugenicist, Philosophy, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biology, marine biologist and artist ...
, a German biologist and
monist Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...
, was about a branch of biology dealing with the interaction of organisms and their surroundings. The current use of the term started to put the interaction of pollution in a political context and was later to describe a political movement as well. The thesis was published by
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
in 1991 and a related article by Grundmann himself and an answer and review of the study by Ted Benton appeared the following year in the
New Left Review The ''New Left Review'' is a British bimonthly journal, established in 1960, which analyses international politics, the global economy, social theory, and cultural topics from a leftist perspective. History Background As part of the emergin ...
. The basic approach used Hans Magnus Enzensberger's ''Zur Kritik der politischen Ökologie'' published in 1973 in the German Kursbuch It has been translated in English in Ted Bentonќs ''Greening of Marxism'' in the 1990s. Grundmann saw orthodox Мarxist thinking being caught between Marx's disrespect for the '' idiocy of rural life'' and his belief in a resurrection of nature. He attempted to identify problems which could be still dealt with convincingly with Marx's thought and approach. Grundmann dealt in detail with Marx and Engels' discourse on the 'domination over nature', which he claims of being of value. Grundmanns explicit advocacy of the term is exemptional and his introduction into the topic has been quoted as late as 2010 by leading Chinese Scholars as being ''wonderful.'' * ''Online as'': Grundmann avoided depicting the domination as being a precondition of destruction, but allowed for interpretations as mastery or stewardship. Grundmann's defence of 'mastery over nature' as a metaphor in ''ecologically informed socialism'' was however not in line with Ted Benton's interpretation of the domination term used by Marx. Benton was positive about Grundmann cutting through ''a lot of sloppy thinking in the 'ecocentric' camp.'' He furthermore acknowledged that Grundmann's interpretation of Marx view of our relation to nature is insofar specific compared to e.g.
Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...
and
Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche became the youngest pro ...
, since in Marx's view that 'man should make an impact on the world'. Such mastery, according to Grundmann, would be better interpreted as in mastering a musical instrument. Grundmann concluded "that the pursuit of productivity and the development of a healthy environment need not be mutually exclusive," arguing that only specific technologies, not technology as such, lead to environmental degradation. Whilst the book received some praise and critical attention at the time, it was published at a difficult historical juncture—after the fall of communism there was little enthusiasm for theoretical frameworks inspired by Marx. This has changed, and the forthcoming Chinese translation and recent reviews and papers about Grundmann's marxist ecology published in China indicate an ongoing interest in the topic.


Sustainability and Werner Sombart

In the years that followed, he moved away from
social theory Social theories are analytical frameworks, or paradigms, that are used to study and interpret social phenomena.Seidman, S., 2016. Contested knowledge: Social theory today. John Wiley & Sons. A tool used by social scientists, social theories re ...
and started engaging with issues about environmental
sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...
from the viewpoint of
science and technology studies Science and technology studies (STS) or science, technology, and society is an interdisciplinary field that examines the creation, development, and consequences of science and technology in their historical, cultural, and social contexts. Histo ...
. This move was inspired by the insight of
Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
that technology reveals the active transformation of nature, performed by humans and their social forms of organization. A partial return to social theory was prompted by the co-operation with Nico Stehr with whom Grundmann worked since the late 1990s. Their common work on
Werner Sombart Werner may refer to: People * Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name Fictional characters * Werner (comics), a German comic book character * Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Rai ...
led to a re-evaluation of the legacy of this pioneering German sociologist, examining in particular his low salience in the postwar period. Reviewer Lutz Kaelber from the
University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...
referred to Stehrs and Grundmanns edition of Werner Sombart's ''Economic Life in the Modern Age'' as a ''valuable and accessible addition to the Anglo-American literature on Werner Sombart.''


Sustainability and large technical systems

The study of science and technology related issues led him to research large technical systems, which he did during his time at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) in the early 1990s. His special interest was focused on the future of automobility.Grundmann, Reiner; Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung gGmbH (Ed.): Kommunikation und technische Infrastruktur: über Schienen, Straßen, Sand und Perlen. Berlin, 1993 (Schriftenreihe der Forschungsgruppe "Große technische Systeme" des Forschungsschwerpunkts Technik - Arbeit - Umwelt am Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung 93-501). URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-30922. In the mid-1990s he spent three years at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
where he studied the efforts to protect the
ozone layer The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth's stratosphere that absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. It contains a high concentration of ozone (O3) in relation to other parts of the a ...
(see as well
ozone depletion and global warming Ozone depletion and climate change are environmental challenges whose connections have been explored and which have been compared and contrasted, for example in terms of global regulation, in various studies and books. There is widespread scientifi ...
). ''Transnational environmental policy - reconstructing Ozone'' was published in German in 1999 and in 2001 in English. It challenged widespread historical accounts which tend to explain the policies either as a result of scientific consensus, or as an outcome of corporate power. In contrast, it shows the relevance of transnational policy networks. The successful
Montreal Protocol The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. It was agreed on 16 ...
is often taken as an exemplar case which serves as the model for an (so far elusive) climate treaty. Grundmann claims that several problematic lessons have been drawn from this case. The book entry quotes Jim Lovelock stating ''This readable book is the best treatment of the subject published so far'' and F.Sherwood Rowland with ''Stimulating and thought-provoking.''


Science and technology Studies

Grundmann contributed to Science, technology and society (STS) with books about the role of experts and the power of scientific knowledge. He sees a role of science as agenda setter in the political process but stays in line with basic STS assumptions about the failure of the linear model of science and policy interaction. Roger Pielke's Honest Broker assumed with regard to climate studies, that the linear model still is overwhelmingly persistent. The assumption, that STS studies critical of the linear model would ''automatically translate into practice'' would echo the very linear model under scrutiny, In a contribution to a volume in ''Knowledge and Democracy'' in 2015 Grundmann stated that those previous scholarly critiques already converted into governments attempting to improve management of public expectations on technological risk assessments.


Role of Experts

In their book on expert knowledge (English translation in 2011: ''Experts: The knowledge and power of expertise''), Grundmann and Stehr develop a specific concept of expertise. Contrary to common definitions that stress the centrality of scientists as experts, expertise is defined as mediating between knowledge production and knowledge application. With the expansion of knowledge intensive professions, ever more persons move into positions of experts—for some issues, some of the time. The rise of the
knowledge society A knowledge society generates, shares, and makes available to all members of the society knowledge that may be used to improve the human condition. A knowledge society differs from an information society in that the former serves to transform info ...
leads to a proliferation of knowledge sources which has not been sufficiently acknowledged by some dominant theories of expertise. A review in the '' Canadian Journal of Sociology'' pointed out that the book was published as part of Routledge's "Key Ideas" series and was among the best books in this series, which attempt to both critically review the field and present arguments that reach beyond existing works. ''Experts: The knowledge and power of expertise'' got positive reviews e.g. in socialnet.de. Perlentaucher mentioned e.g. a positive review of Alexander Kissler in
Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...
, stating Stehr and Grundmann would have successfully started ''to plough a new field''. Climate change is a prominent current case which highlights the question about knowledge and decision making. Grundmann thinks that there exists a mistaken belief that the presence of a
scientific consensus Scientific consensus is the generally held judgment, position, and opinion of the majority or the supermajority of scientists in a particular field of study at any particular time. Consensus is achieved through scholarly communication at confer ...
will enable ambitious climate policies. He considers that a much praised study overstates the case for scientific consensus. Grundmann is in line with main STS scholars view that science hardly determines policy outcomes. Examples such
acid rain Acid rain is rain or any other form of Precipitation (meteorology), precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists b ...
, smoking regulations, ozone depleting substances, genetically modified foods show how cultural, economic and political issues exercised a strong influence. Conversely, the presence of an international science consensus (through the IPCC) has led to different national policies, none of which is on track to achieving the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions that the IPCC Summary for Policymakers postulate as necessary.


Climate change

He wrote about the legacy of the Climatic Research Unit email controversy and whether it revitalized or undermined climate science and climate policy. His own experiences with peer review of another paper about the issue are described in an interview with Hans von Storch on Storch's Klimazwiebel blog.Tuesday, May 29, 2012 Interview with Reiner Grundmann by Hans von Storch
/ref> According von Storch's intro, Grundmann's paper ''Climategate and The Scientific Ethos'' faced severe resistance from social science journals before it was published in '' Science, Technology, & Human Values''. Grundmann and Stehr had themselves a controversy in the peer-reviewed literature, when they clashed with Constance Lever-Tracy about the role of sociology in climate affairs. Grundmann stated a ''politicization of climate science'' which makes science, technology and society (STS) scholars feel uncomfortable with the topic of climate change. Grundmann identifies a problematic approach of climate scientists who believe to have a prerogative to make political suggestions in the field "which society at large should take up because scientists always know best" combined with a basic lack of actual feasible solution proposals. He sees climate change as a long term issue requiring more public involvement and debate, not less and asks social scientists to study the interaction between climate and society, Lever-Tracy was more about letting the climatologists having the lead. Mike Hulme noted that Grundmann (2007) pointed out some of the problems, with the circulation of IPCC knowledge or that he suggested that improvements need to be made, for example in form of improved communication. Grundmann wrote that besides the IPCC knowledge, it resulted in inaction in the United States, and that political agenda and high visibility of sceptical scientists in the media based on 'balanced reporting' led to a bias in climate change coverage in advantage of sceptical arguments. In Germany instead, science messaging and warnings from well known scientists prevailed and resulted in climate action.


Publications and books

* (1991) ''Marxism and Ecology''. Oxford:
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. ** Korean (Dongnyok, Seoul 1995), Chinese translation is forthcoming * (1999) Transnationale Umweltpolitik zum Schutz der Ozonschicht. USA und Deutschland im Vergleich. Frankfurt a.M.: Campus. ** (2001) Transnational Environmental Policy: Reconstructing Ozone. London: Routledge. * (2001) Werner Sombart. Economic Life in the Modern Age, edited and introduced by Nico Stehr and Reiner Grundmann, New Brunswick, N.J.; Oxford: Transaction Books. . * (2011) Die Macht der Erkenntnis. Berlin: Suhrkamp. (with Nico Stehr). ** In English (2012) The Power of Scientific Knowledge. From Research to Public Policy. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
. (with Nico Stehr). ** In Russian: Власть научного знания, Aletheia Publishers, Sankt Petersburg, . * (2010) Expertenwissen: Die Kultur und die Macht von Experten, Beratern und Ratgebern. Frankfurt am Main: Velbrueck. (with Nico Stehr). ** In English: Experts: The knowledge and power of expertise. London: Routledge. (with Nico Stehr). * (2008) Society: Critical Concepts (4 vols.) London:
Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...
. (edited with Nico Stehr). * (2005) Knowledge: Critical Concepts (5 vols). London: Routledge. (edited with Nico Stehr).


References


External links

*
Grundmann at University of Nottingham website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grundmann, Reiner Living people Non-fiction environmental writers 1955 births Academics of the University of Nottingham Academics of Aston University Academic staff of Bielefeld University German political scientists German sociologists German male writers