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Rothschild reversed: explaining the exceptionalism of biomedical research, 1971–1981

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2018

STEPHEN M. DAVIES
STEPHEN M. DAVIES*
Affiliation:
Centre for History in Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15–17 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9SH, UK. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

The ‘Rothschild reforms’ of the early 1970s established a new framework for the management of government-funded science. The subsequent dismantling of the Rothschild system for biomedical research and the return of funds to the Medical Research Council (MRC) in 1981 were a notable departure from this framework and ran contrary to the direction of national science policy. The exceptionalism of these measures was justified at the time with reference to the ‘particular circumstances’ of biomedical research. Conventional explanations for the reversal in biomedical research include the alleged greater competence and higher authority of the MRC, together with its claimed practical difficulties. Although they contain some elements of truth, such explanations are not wholly convincing. Alternative explanations hinge on the behaviour of senior medical administrators, who closed ranks to ensure that de facto control was yielded to the MRC. This created an accountability deficit, which the two organizations jointly resolved by dismantling the system for commissioning biomedical research. The nature and working of medical elites were central to this outcome.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 143 - 163
Copyright
Copyright © British Society for the History of Science 2018 

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Footnotes

I wish to thank Mary Henkel, Susanne MacGregor, Miles Parker and Martin Gorsky for their comments on various drafts, as well as the two anonymous peer reviewers for their insightful and constructive feedback. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the late Professor Walter Holland, who was consistently generous in his encouragement of my research interests.

References

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