Gordis E
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Rockville, MD 20857.
Alcohol Alcohol Suppl. 1991;1:65-76.
The scientist has two jobs: to do good science, and to be a spokesperson for science in the creation of rational social policy. Three categories of interaction between science and policy are described and examples given. The first is where science has provided data that were decisive in causing policy to be enacted. The second is where science is capable of resolving equity issues that have arisen from problems that science itself created. The third is where the issues are ultimately resolved by extra-scientific considerations. Two major issues where it is hoped that science can make a significant contribution include outcomes analysis, a new approach to dealing with health care costs and variations in clinical practice; and the disease concept of alcoholism, with questions it raises of volition, personal responsibility, and punishment. However, science alone is never the dominant force in the shaping of policy, which is determined by the interaction of many social forces, such as morals, values, politics, and economics.
做好科学研究，并在制定合理的社会政策过程中担任科学的代言人。本文描述了科学与政策之间的三类互动关系并给出了示例。第一类是科学提供的数据对政策的制定起到了决定性作用。第二类是科学能够解决因科学自身产生的问题而引发的公平问题。第三类是问题最终由科学之外的因素来解决。希望科学能做出重大贡献的两个主要问题包括结果分析，这是一种处理医疗保健成本和临床实践差异的新方法；以及酒精成瘾的疾病概念，它引发了关于意志、个人责任和惩罚的问题。然而，仅靠科学永远不是塑造政策的主导力量，政策是由许多社会力量，如道德、价值观、政治和经济等相互作用决定的。
