10. Organizing identity: The creation of science for the people

Abstract

Rather than studying social structure and organizations as separate things, this chapter analyzes how people organize social structure. Whereas the “old structuralism” is built on a reified conception of social structure that defines all significant social elements a priori, “new structuralism” emphasizes the processes by which agents and structures are transformed. Instead of the category-centred old structuralism, we adopt an interaction-based approach to explain the creation of a new kind of “radical” science organization called Science for the People. We explain how, though a series of dynamic public performances, Science for the People disrupted the very boundaries between science and politics.