British scientists in the 1930s embraced a Marxist view of science serving ruling-class interests

Evidence

This conference, remarked Edward Shils, “led an important bloc of British scientists to support the Marxist theses that all scientific work, however abstruse, is a witting or unwitting response to the practical problems confronting the society or the ruling classes of the society in which the scientists live.” Pure research meant nothing on its own, but constituted a preparatory step to applied science and, ultimately, social change. At the same time, many natural scientists themselves supported a wider application of science to social problems, promoting its rationality and tangibility over the dead-end of partisan shibboleths. The fact that economic planning had been infused with scientific credibility granted a good measure of legitimacy to sympathetic scientists. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 76

Categorization

• XREF: Context for the neoliberal reaction to scientific planning; links to the broader chapters on how economists positioned themselves against central planning. — connects to: 1930s British scientists equated communism with scientific method itself — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 77; Western Marxism diverged from orthodox Marxism over the status of natural science — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 506; The Depression radicalized British intellectuals toward socialism and communism — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 2369 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• 1930s British scientists equated communism with scientific method itself #expands (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 77
• The Depression radicalized British intellectuals toward socialism and communism #corroborates (0.85) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 2369
• Depression-era English Marxism recruited intellectuals, not workers. #corroborates (0.80) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1221
• Western Marxism diverged from orthodox Marxism over the status of natural science #qualifies (0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 506