Abstract
The history of scientific societies appears to be better known than their contemporary structures and functions. Through a detailed analysis of the structure of one disciplinary society — the West-German Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh) —it is shown that such a society plays an important role in the communication and reward system of its discipline. The most striking aspect, however, is the amount of resources this society can mobilize, thanks to the symbiotic relationship of its leading élites with the chemical industry — in particular, with the big West-German Corporations. The GDCh plays a key role in the West-German science system. Its ideology and politics are accommodated (and cannot be much else) to its partner, the chemical industry, and legitimated by a functional-technical world view. Alternatives (for example, trade-union related approaches) are not taken up, or are explicitly rejected.
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