In The Will to Predict, Egle Rindzeviciute demonstrates how the logic of scientific expertise cannot be properly understood without knowing the conceptual and institutional history of scientific prediction. She notes that predictions of future population, economic growth, environmental change, and scientific and technological innovation have shaped much of twentieth and twenty-first-century politics and social life, as well as government policies. Today, such predictions are more necessary than ever as the world undergoes dramatic environmental, political, and technological change. But, she asks, what does it mean to predict scientifically? What are the limits of scientific prediction and what are its effects on governance, institutions, and society?

Her intellectual and political history of scientific prediction takes as its example twentieth-century USSR. By outlining the role of prediction in a range of governmental contexts, from economic and social planning to military strategy, she shows that the history of scientific prediction is a transnational one, part of the history of modern science and technology as well as governance. Going beyond the Soviet case, Rindzeviciute argues that scientific predictions are central for organizing uncertainty through the orchestration of knowledge and action. Bridging the fields of political sociology, organization studies, and history, The Will to Predict considers what makes knowledge scientific and how such knowledge has impacted late modern governance.

About the Author

Egle Rindzeviciute is Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology, Politics and Sociology at Kingston University, London. She is the author of The Power of Systems and Constructing Soviet Cultural Policy.

Reviews

This book reviews the intellectual and political history of scientific prediction. Rindzeviit (criminology and sociology, Kingston Univ., London) is concerned with prediction as used to inform governance, including economic forecasting. The author focuses mainly on Soviet Russia (the former USSR) with its specialized emphasis on prediction and planning.

* Choice *

The Will to Predict tackles an intriguing and topical issue of considerable interest to his- torians of science, especially the historical scrutiny of the role that science has in modern and late modern governance. It is a well-informed book, rich in ideas and examples, developing its important topic in theoretically illuminating and conceptually productive ways while contributing a selective, but thoughtful and original, analysis of the underexplored, yet distinctive and instructive, Soviet case.

* British Journal for the History of Science *



Book Information
ISBN 9781501769771
Author Egle Rindzeviciute
Format Hardback
Page Count 306
Imprint Cornell University Press
Publisher Cornell University Press
Weight(grams) 907g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 27mm