Abby Kinchy
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 236505 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Abby Kinchy |
| NOMBRES | Abby |
| APELLIDO | Kinchy |
| FIRMA | KINCHY A |
| AFILIACIONES | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5296-482X |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 30 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 251 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 30 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2003 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 10 |
Not your grandpa's energy system? Fossil fuel inheritances in the decarbonization of industrial geographies
Soil publics
In contexts of regulatory neglect, it often falls to concerned individuals and community groups to identify and reduce people’s exposure to health-threatening pollutants in urban soils. The Our Soil project, based in Troy, New York (U.S.A.) proposed that engaging people in a “do-it-together” process of scientific inquiry could cultivate both appreciation of soil’s value and urgency to protect people from toxic soil pollution. In this paper, we de…
Confronting legacy lead in soils in the United States
When citizen science is public relations
Amid rising interest in participatory research, some industries have recently begun to practice public relations citizen science (PRCS). Unlike citizen science and crowdsourcing projects that generate raw materials for product development, PRCS benefits capitalist firms primarily by improving their public image and deflecting accusations of causing harm. Three cases illustrate how PRCS works: (1) a growing assortment of citizen science projects a…
Bringing climate politics home
STS Currents against the “Anti-Science” Tide
This essay considers some possible relationships that STS scholars can have with activists who are resisting attacks on environmental science. STS scholars can document the counter-currents to the “anti-science” moment, work in partnership with activists outside of academia, use access to institutional resources to give environmental movements strength, use STS research to help activists better understand the policy process and the history of sci…
Contentious baselining
Ignorance about baseline conditions can be advantageous to companies that are suspected of causing environmental harm, because it allows them to claim that perhaps the degradation was a pre-existing problem. In the case of Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction in Pennsylvania (USA), gas well operators have created strategic ignorance about and through baselines in at least two ways: (1) drawing attention to weaknesses in the documentation of pas…
Science by the People
Citizen science-research involving nonprofessionals in the research process-has attracted both strong enthusiasts and detractors. Many environmental professionals, activists, and scholars consider citizen science part of their toolkit for addressing environmental challenges. Critics, however, contend that it represents a corporate takeover of scientific priorities. In this timely book, two sociologists move beyond this binary debate by analyzing …
Dueling metaphors, fueling futures
Environmental expertise
Environmental expertise: connecting science, policy, and society." Critical Policy Studies, 14(1), pp. 131–132
Science by the People
When the Hills Are Gone
Engaging the Underground
Rather than existing a priori, the underground comes to be through interlinked political, economic, cultural, and technoscientific practices and processes. Underlying each of these are issues of knowledge, expertise and power that STS is uniquely positioned to explore. In this thematic collection, our focus on the underground draws attention to the work, knowledge, and placemaking activities of those engaged in mining and energy development. We f…
Disclosure Conflicts
Many governments and corporations have embraced information disclosure as an alternative to conventional environmental and public health regulation. Public policy research on transparency has examined the effects of particular disclosure policies, but there is limited research on how the construction of disclosure policies relates to social movements, or how transparency and ignorance are related. As a first step toward filling this theoretical g…
Citizen Science
Citizen science is an increasingly popular activity, from bird counts to amateur water sample collection to air quality monitoring. Researchers and theorists in the field of science and technology studies (STS) have typically applauded these efforts because they make science more participatory, providing an example of the democratization of science, or, at least, more equitable engagement between experts and the lay public. However, a broader rev…
Quiet voices in the fracking debate
Citizen Science and Democracy
Projections—the way that people collectively talk about the future—shape action in the present. This sociological observation has implications for citizen science initiatives that aim to confront powerful industries and produce social change. When people participate in citizen science associations—such as watershed monitoring organizations, the subject of this study—their actions and democratic sensibilities are affected by the ways that organize…
Lost in space
This chapter takes up the problem of ignorance and geographical space from the vantage point of Science and Technology Studies (STS). It follows fellow STSers in viewing ignorance as a cultural artifact whose production is deeply intertwined with epistemic, social, and spatial processes. The chapter discusses the geographical concepts that have relevance for studies of the social production of ignorance. After briefly exploring the relevance of “…
Civil society research and Marcellus Shale natural gas development
Seeds, Science, and Struggle
An examination of how advocates for alternative agriculture confront “science-based” regulation of genetically engineered crops. Genetic engineering has a wide range of cultural, economic, and ethical implications, yet it has become almost an article of faith that regulatory decisions about biotechnology be based only on evidence of specific quantifiable risks; to consider anything else is said to “politicize” regulation. In this study of social …
Epistemic Boomerang
This article introduces the term "epistemic boomerang" to describe a distinctive pattern of activism in which activists, frustrated by exclusion from national politics, attempt to mobilize expert advice in support of social goals. Using expertise as leverage can be a desirable option for activists when political authorities favor technocratic decision making. Epistemic boomerang formation is possible when expert organizations encourage citizen pa…
Anti-genetic engineering activism and scientized politics in the case of “contaminated” Mexican maize
African Americans in the Atomic Age
African Americans in the Atomic AgePostwar Perspectives on Race and the Bomb, 1945–1967 Abby J. Kinchy (bio) On 8 September 1945, Walter White, the executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), made a prediction: “The atomic bomb will have and must have even more explosive effects on nationalist, economic and racial concepts as it has had on the half million human beings who were wiped out by two b…
Against Free Markets, Against Science? Regulating the Socio-Economic Effects of Biotechnology
This study challenges the assumption that abstract 'globalization' forces are driving transformations in the relationships between states and markets. Employing three cases of policy debate regarding the regulation of agricultural biotechnology (ag-biotech), we examine the role of discourse in the formation of neoliberal regulatory schemes. We show that one important mechanism for the successful institutionalization of neoliberalism in the area o…
Against the neoliberal steamroller? The Biosafety Protocol and the social regulation of agricultural biotechnologies
Organizing Credibility
In the present paper, we show that in its efforts to maintain credibility and claim social relevance, the Ecological Society of America (ESA) and its members repeatedly negotiate a boundary between science and politics. While the boundaries of ecology are flexibly defined, contingent on political context and what is at stake, they are also shaped and constrained by the already constructed social world. Several factors shape the ESA’s boundary-wor…
Engaging the Underground
Rather than existing a priori, the underground comes to be through interlinked political, economic, cultural, and technoscientific practices and processes. Underlying each of these are issues of knowledge, expertise and power that STS is uniquely positioned to explore. In this thematic collection, our focus on the underground draws attention to the work, knowledge, and placemaking activities of those engaged in mining and energy development. We f…
Citizen Science and Democracy
Projections—the way that people collectively talk about the future—shape action in the present. This sociological observation has implications for citizen science initiatives that aim to confront powerful industries and produce social change. When people participate in citizen science associations—such as watershed monitoring organizations, the subject of this study—their actions and democratic sensibilities are affected by the ways that organize…
Quiet voices in the fracking debate
Against Free Markets, Against Science? Regulating the Socio-Economic Effects of Biotechnology
This study challenges the assumption that abstract 'globalization' forces are driving transformations in the relationships between states and markets. Employing three cases of policy debate regarding the regulation of agricultural biotechnology (ag-biotech), we examine the role of discourse in the formation of neoliberal regulatory schemes. We show that one important mechanism for the successful institutionalization of neoliberalism in the area o…
Anti-genetic engineering activism and scientized politics in the case of “contaminated” Mexican maize
Civil society research and Marcellus Shale natural gas development
Against the neoliberal steamroller? The Biosafety Protocol and the social regulation of agricultural biotechnologies
Boundaries in Science Policy Making
We simultaneously explore the history of European Union policy on the commercialization of recombinant bovine growth hormone and the sociology of boundary drawing. We argue that, to understand why some boundary-drawing efforts succeed and others fail, we need to be attentive to the relatively stable discursive, organizational, and institutional factors that shape boundary construction. We suggest that attention to two discourses (scientism and so…
When citizen science is public relations
Amid rising interest in participatory research, some industries have recently begun to practice public relations citizen science (PRCS). Unlike citizen science and crowdsourcing projects that generate raw materials for product development, PRCS benefits capitalist firms primarily by improving their public image and deflecting accusations of causing harm. Three cases illustrate how PRCS works: (1) a growing assortment of citizen science projects a…
Epistemic Boomerang
This article introduces the term "epistemic boomerang" to describe a distinctive pattern of activism in which activists, frustrated by exclusion from national politics, attempt to mobilize expert advice in support of social goals. Using expertise as leverage can be a desirable option for activists when political authorities favor technocratic decision making. Epistemic boomerang formation is possible when expert organizations encourage citizen pa…
Why Ban Bovine Growth Hormone? Science, Social Welfare, and the Divergent Biotech Policy Landscapes in Europe and the United States
Contentious baselining
Ignorance about baseline conditions can be advantageous to companies that are suspected of causing environmental harm, because it allows them to claim that perhaps the degradation was a pre-existing problem. In the case of Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction in Pennsylvania (USA), gas well operators have created strategic ignorance about and through baselines in at least two ways: (1) drawing attention to weaknesses in the documentation of pas…
Dueling metaphors, fueling futures
Bringing climate politics home
On the borders of post-war ecology
Should ecologists advocate for the protection of natural ecosystems? What is the appropri-ate relationship between ecology and activism? These questions have been raised by ecol-ogists and observers of the discipline since at least the early 1900s, and present discussionsshow no sign of a forthcoming resolution. Historian Stephen Bocking (1997) recentlyobserved that ‘Among ecologists there evidently is no consensus concerning their placein enviro…
Disclosure Conflicts
Many governments and corporations have embraced information disclosure as an alternative to conventional environmental and public health regulation. Public policy research on transparency has examined the effects of particular disclosure policies, but there is limited research on how the construction of disclosure policies relates to social movements, or how transparency and ignorance are related. As a first step toward filling this theoretical g…
Not your grandpa's energy system? Fossil fuel inheritances in the decarbonization of industrial geographies
Confronting legacy lead in soils in the United States
Environmental expertise
Environmental expertise: connecting science, policy, and society." Critical Policy Studies, 14(1), pp. 131–132
When the Hills Are Gone
African Americans in the Atomic Age
African Americans in the Atomic AgePostwar Perspectives on Race and the Bomb, 1945–1967 Abby J. Kinchy (bio) On 8 September 1945, Walter White, the executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), made a prediction: “The atomic bomb will have and must have even more explosive effects on nationalist, economic and racial concepts as it has had on the half million human beings who were wiped out by two b…
Why Ban Bovine Growth Hormone? Science, Social Welfare, and the Divergent Biotech Policy Landscapes in Europe and the United States
Organizing Credibility
In the present paper, we show that in its efforts to maintain credibility and claim social relevance, the Ecological Society of America (ESA) and its members repeatedly negotiate a boundary between science and politics. While the boundaries of ecology are flexibly defined, contingent on political context and what is at stake, they are also shaped and constrained by the already constructed social world. Several factors shape the ESA’s boundary-wor…
Boundaries in Science Policy Making
We simultaneously explore the history of European Union policy on the commercialization of recombinant bovine growth hormone and the sociology of boundary drawing. We argue that, to understand why some boundary-drawing efforts succeed and others fail, we need to be attentive to the relatively stable discursive, organizational, and institutional factors that shape boundary construction. We suggest that attention to two discourses (scientism and so…
Boundaries in Science Policy Making
We simultaneously explore the history of European Union policy on the commercialization of recombinant bovine growth hormone and the sociology of boundary drawing. We argue that, to understand why some boundary-drawing efforts succeed and others fail, we need to be attentive to the relatively stable discursive, organizational, and institutional factors that shape boundary construction. We suggest that attention to two discourses (scientism and so…
On the borders of post-war ecology
Should ecologists advocate for the protection of natural ecosystems? What is the appropri-ate relationship between ecology and activism? These questions have been raised by ecol-ogists and observers of the discipline since at least the early 1900s, and present discussionsshow no sign of a forthcoming resolution. Historian Stephen Bocking (1997) recentlyobserved that ‘Among ecologists there evidently is no consensus concerning their placein enviro…
Against the neoliberal steamroller? The Biosafety Protocol and the social regulation of agricultural biotechnologies
Against Free Markets, Against Science? Regulating the Socio-Economic Effects of Biotechnology
This study challenges the assumption that abstract 'globalization' forces are driving transformations in the relationships between states and markets. Employing three cases of policy debate regarding the regulation of agricultural biotechnology (ag-biotech), we examine the role of discourse in the formation of neoliberal regulatory schemes. We show that one important mechanism for the successful institutionalization of neoliberalism in the area o…
Anti-genetic engineering activism and scientized politics in the case of “contaminated” Mexican maize
African Americans in the Atomic Age
African Americans in the Atomic AgePostwar Perspectives on Race and the Bomb, 1945–1967 Abby J. Kinchy (bio) On 8 September 1945, Walter White, the executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), made a prediction: “The atomic bomb will have and must have even more explosive effects on nationalist, economic and racial concepts as it has had on the half million human beings who were wiped out by two b…
Epistemic Boomerang
This article introduces the term "epistemic boomerang" to describe a distinctive pattern of activism in which activists, frustrated by exclusion from national politics, attempt to mobilize expert advice in support of social goals. Using expertise as leverage can be a desirable option for activists when political authorities favor technocratic decision making. Epistemic boomerang formation is possible when expert organizations encourage citizen pa…
Seeds, Science, and Struggle
An examination of how advocates for alternative agriculture confront “science-based” regulation of genetically engineered crops. Genetic engineering has a wide range of cultural, economic, and ethical implications, yet it has become almost an article of faith that regulatory decisions about biotechnology be based only on evidence of specific quantifiable risks; to consider anything else is said to “politicize” regulation. In this study of social …
Civil society research and Marcellus Shale natural gas development
Lost in space
This chapter takes up the problem of ignorance and geographical space from the vantage point of Science and Technology Studies (STS). It follows fellow STSers in viewing ignorance as a cultural artifact whose production is deeply intertwined with epistemic, social, and spatial processes. The chapter discusses the geographical concepts that have relevance for studies of the social production of ignorance. After briefly exploring the relevance of “…
Citizen Science
Citizen science is an increasingly popular activity, from bird counts to amateur water sample collection to air quality monitoring. Researchers and theorists in the field of science and technology studies (STS) have typically applauded these efforts because they make science more participatory, providing an example of the democratization of science, or, at least, more equitable engagement between experts and the lay public. However, a broader rev…
Quiet voices in the fracking debate
Citizen Science and Democracy
Projections—the way that people collectively talk about the future—shape action in the present. This sociological observation has implications for citizen science initiatives that aim to confront powerful industries and produce social change. When people participate in citizen science associations—such as watershed monitoring organizations, the subject of this study—their actions and democratic sensibilities are affected by the ways that organize…
Engaging the Underground
Rather than existing a priori, the underground comes to be through interlinked political, economic, cultural, and technoscientific practices and processes. Underlying each of these are issues of knowledge, expertise and power that STS is uniquely positioned to explore. In this thematic collection, our focus on the underground draws attention to the work, knowledge, and placemaking activities of those engaged in mining and energy development. We f…
Disclosure Conflicts
Many governments and corporations have embraced information disclosure as an alternative to conventional environmental and public health regulation. Public policy research on transparency has examined the effects of particular disclosure policies, but there is limited research on how the construction of disclosure policies relates to social movements, or how transparency and ignorance are related. As a first step toward filling this theoretical g…
Science by the People
Citizen science-research involving nonprofessionals in the research process-has attracted both strong enthusiasts and detractors. Many environmental professionals, activists, and scholars consider citizen science part of their toolkit for addressing environmental challenges. Critics, however, contend that it represents a corporate takeover of scientific priorities. In this timely book, two sociologists move beyond this binary debate by analyzing …
Dueling metaphors, fueling futures
Environmental expertise
Environmental expertise: connecting science, policy, and society." Critical Policy Studies, 14(1), pp. 131–132
Science by the People
When the Hills Are Gone
STS Currents against the “Anti-Science” Tide
This essay considers some possible relationships that STS scholars can have with activists who are resisting attacks on environmental science. STS scholars can document the counter-currents to the “anti-science” moment, work in partnership with activists outside of academia, use access to institutional resources to give environmental movements strength, use STS research to help activists better understand the policy process and the history of sci…
Contentious baselining
Ignorance about baseline conditions can be advantageous to companies that are suspected of causing environmental harm, because it allows them to claim that perhaps the degradation was a pre-existing problem. In the case of Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction in Pennsylvania (USA), gas well operators have created strategic ignorance about and through baselines in at least two ways: (1) drawing attention to weaknesses in the documentation of pas…
Political science (26 obras) · Law (19 obras) · Sociology (18 obras) · Politics (16 obras) · Law (13 obras) · Economics (10 obras) · Engineering (9 obras) · Political economy (9 obras) · Public relations (8 obras) · Biology (7 obras)