In some ways, all of John Abraham’s research on Pharmaceuticals & Society could be regarded as part of Science, Technology & Society. However, this section is devoted to how his work has influenced Science, Technology & Society more broadly and in substantive areas unrelated to pharmaceuticals. There are many aspects to this. John has always insisted that the abbreviation ‘STS’ should continue to adhere to its original referent, namely, Science, Technology & Society, rather than the academically internalist ‘Science and Technology Studies’. He is a critic of academic internalism both theoretically and empirically (especially indulgent reflexivity) in STS. Secondly, John is one of the most prominent realists in STS. He is well known for advocating realist empirical research, objectivism, and truth-value, in contradistinction to relativism of truth, constructivism, positivism, or solely theoretical realism. This includes a defence and use of the idea that there are objective sociological/political interests in society. Thirdly, John is the first STS scholar to develop the concept of bias in science in a theoretically and empirically robust way that can be methodologically applied for policy analysis and change. Fourthly, he introduced the concept of the permissive principle to the STS community in a way that can be rigorously applied in the evaluation of risk-benefit assessment decision-making. Fifthly, he is one of the few STS scholars to integrate theories from political science into the history and sociology of scientific knowledge, particularly in relation to the concepts of regulatory science and geneticization. Sixthly, John has contributed to debates about the societal value of ‘Big Science’. And finally, John achieved a distinction for his dissertation on ‘Mathematics, Critical Thinking and Conscientization’. He subsequently published adapted versions of this work in the field of ‘Mathematics & Society’ (a branch of STS) along with some other radical statistical work. Inspired by the work of Dr Michael Brown, Professor Ian Miles, Professor Donald Mackenzie, Professor Sal Restivo, and Professor Barry Cooper, from his early twenties, John became one of the leading figures in an international network advocating for the development of research and pedagogy on the social and political aspects of mathematics and statistics. John’s work in the field of Science, Technology & Society is exemplified by the following publications:
John Abraham Science, Politics and the Pharmaceutical Industry, 310pp, UCL Press, 1995.
John Abraham and Courtney Davis Unhealthy Pharmaceutical Regulation: Innovation, Politics and Promissory Science, 348pp, Palgrave, 2013.
John Abraham and Courtney Davis (2009) ‘Drug evaluation and the permissive principle’ Social Studies of Science 39: 569-98.
John Abraham (2002) ‘Regulatory science as culture’ Science as Culture 11: 309-35.
John Abraham (1994) ‘Interests, Presuppositions and the Science Policy Construction Debate’ Social Studies of Science 24: 123-32.
John Abraham (1993) ‘Scientific Standards and Institutional Interests: Carcinogenic Risk Assessment of Benoxaprofen in the UK and the US’ Social Studies of Science 23: 387-444.
John Abraham (2008) ‘Bias and science in knowledge production: implications for the politics of drug regulation’ in (eds.) O. O’Donovan & K. Glavanis-Grantham, Power, Politics and Pharmaceuticals, pp. 43-57 (Cork University Press).
John Irvine, Ben Martin, John Abraham and Tim Peacock (1987) ‘Assessing basic research: Reappraisal and update of an evaluation of radio astronomy observatories’ Research Policy 16: 213-227.
Ben Martin, John Irvine, Tim Peacock and John Abraham (1986) ‘A Re-evaluation of the contributions to radio astronomy of the Nancay Observatory’ Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) Review 3: 4-18.
John Abraham (1988) ‘Mathematics and Society: Ethnomathematics and a Public Educator Curriculum’ For the Learning of Mathematics 8: 2-11.
John Abraham (1989) ‘Human Agency: the Black Box of Mathematics in the Curriculum’ Zentralblatt fur Didaktik der Mathematik (International Reviews of Mathematics Education) 21: 183-188.
John Abraham (1989) ‘Social History of Mathematical Controversies: Some Implications for the Curriculum’ in Keitel, C., Damerow, P., Bishop, A. and Gerdes, P. (eds) Mathematics, Education and Society, pp56-57. UNESCO Science and Technology Education Document Series No. 35, Division of Science, Technical and Environmental Education.
John Abraham (1992) ‘Mathematics and Society’ in (eds.) M. Nickson and S. Lerman, The Social Context of Mathematics Education: Theory and Practice, pp. 180-201. Southbank Press.
Ian Plewis, John Abraham, John Bibby, Jeff Evans, Harvey Goldstein and Steve Simpson (1987) ‘Figuring Out Education Spending: Trends 1978-1985 and their meaning’ Radical Statistics 22pp.