The bee and the architect: scientists against scientism, a Transnational European Movement (1976–1978)

The Radical Science Movement emerged in the 1970s to challenge established scientific practices and the social consequences of technological modernity. This article investigates prominent radical scientists in Italy, Britain, West Germany, and France, such as Marcello Cini, Hilary and Steven Rose, the Max Planck researchers in Starnberg, and Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond. Inspired by Marx, Kuhn, Marcuse and Heisenberg, radical scientists challenged the notion of scientific neutrality. They denounced the distortion of science by capitalism and advocated for a new science aligned with social goals. Their primary target was social democrats and communists who embraced productivism and mastery over nature and believed that growth of scientific power would lead to socialism. They criticised both the USA and the USSR while expressing admiration for China and Vietnam. Radical scientists revealed that, far from being a liberal profession, scientific work was as alienating and oppressive as any job under capitalism. However, their analysis had many weaknesses, such as being vague in depicting an alternative science, embracing pseudoscience, and exoticising distant countries. These intellectual contributions emerged at a turning point in Western culture, when the science-based optimism about the future and progress began to give way to scepticism about rationality and fear about technological risks.