Abstract
As in many other countries in the early seventies, environmental issues urged Dutch scientists with different disciplinary backgrounds. Their consciousness of environmental issues was associated with criticism at science. In the Netherlands, several scientists shared their concerns in a broad coalition that wanted to 'improve' scientific activities. At the universities the mobilization of scientists implied the transformation of local academic practices and knowledge into something enjoying more widespread acceptance. Moreover, at Dutch uni-versities their involvement led to the institutionalization of a demarcated field of scientific practice next to several so-called fields of environmental sciences, like environmental biology and environmental chemistry.
From an STS perspective, the activities of environmental scientists are studied, in particular co-operation to advancement of environmental science and the ways in which common ideas are put into practice. Story lines (e.g. Hajer 1995) are conceptualized as boundary-objects (e.g. Gieryn 1999). My empirical work started on story lines in the way they are used (discur-sively) by environmental scientists. The story line 'Dutch environmental science' is consid-ered as the moving spirit behind the discursive mobilization and selection of actors around it. Interdisciplinarity as an additional story line is used as an attempt to escape from normal-science ad to come closer to society and environmental policy.
The boundary work, which concerns Dutch environmental science, met both sciences and policy. The contested boundaries between sciences and Dutch environmental science will not be discussed in this paper. This paper will mainly address the boundary work be-tween Dutch environmental science and environmental policy in the period between 1970 and 2000. The boundary work between Dutch environmental science and policy is reconstructed in five episodes.
