Saturday, December 11, 2010

Review: Will van den Hoonard on Institutional Review Boards and the Social Sciences

Zachary M. SchragEthical Imperialism: Institutional Review Boards and the Social Sciences, 1965–2009. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010, 264 pp. $US 45.00 hardcover (978-0-8018-9490-9)

Ethical Imperialism is about the power exercised by federal ethics regulators and ethics committees in American universities (and hospitals). This power has stymied social research through broken promises, the exclusion of social researchers from decision making, threats and suspensions, distrust, and reliance on medical and psychological practices to nullify the concerns of social researchers. Read more.