Hybride Wissensregime

In modern present-day societies, established orders of knowledge are eroding, leaving new zones of ambiguity. Although these processes are commonly pictured as processes of politicization, economization, and medialization of science, these explanations seem not sufficient. Instead, this book elaborates a theoretical-systematical approach to understand processes of dissolving and emerging structures of knowledge orders. A novel concept of knowledge regimes is developed based on Bourdieu’s field theory as well as on theoretical ideas developed by Kurt Lewin and Anthony Giddens. This field-theoretical concept for the analysis of knowledge regimes is then used for empirical studies in the fields of risk policy (especially chemistry) and innovation policy (especially biotechnology). As a result, different forms of hybrid knowledge regimes are identified and their implications on science policy discussed.