Controversy and the Development of

Under what conditions does an entire line of scientific work become controversial, and with what consequences? Nuclear physics, environmental studies, and sociobiology are familiar examples of controversial sciences. The case examined here is the development of American reproductive sciences over the past century, shaped by four domains of controversy: (1) association with sexuality and reproduction; (2) association with clinical quackery and hotly debated treatments; (3) association with controversial social movements; and (4) the capacity of repro-ductive sciences to create "Brave New Worlds. " Scientists ' strategies for managing controversy are delineated. The framework used is arena analysis, and the paper concludes with rudiments of a conditional theory of status as a controversial "boundary world. " What makes a line of scientific work morally controversial? La tour (1987) has argued that science is politics by other means. Schneider (1984) delineates the profoundly political nature of the construction, maintenance, and change of morality. In the case of reproductive sciences, these two politics intersect: the politics of science confronts the politics of moral change. Here the very doing of certain kinds of scientific work can be construed as demon-strating controversial moral commitments. The outcome of this confrontation is a line of sci-entific work that has been controversial for over a century. The conditions and consequence