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What happened in the sixties?

Agar, J; (2008) What happened in the sixties? British Journal for the History of Science , 41 (4) 567 - 600. 10.1017/S0007087408001179. Green open access

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Abstract

In general history and popular culture, the long 1960s, a period roughly beginning in the mid-1950s and ending in the mid-1970s, has been held to be a period of change. This paper offers a model which captures something of the long 1960s as a period of ‘sea change’ resulting from the interference of three waves. Wave One was an institutional dynamic that drew out experts from closed and hidden disagreement into situations where expert dis- agreement was open to public scrutiny. Wave One also accounts for the multiplication of experts. Wave Two consisted of social movements, institutions and audiences that could carry public scrutiny and provide a home for sea-change cultures. In particular, Wave Two provided the stage, audience and agents to orchestrate a play of disagreeing experts. Wave Three was marked by an orientation towards the self, in diverse ways. Modern science studies is a phenomenon of Wave Three. All three waves must be understood in the context of the un- folding Cold War.

Type: Article
Title: What happened in the sixties?
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1017/S0007087408001179
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0007087408001179
Language: English
Additional information: © 2008 British Society for the History of Science
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Science and Technology Studies
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1360919
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