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Project Camelot, a military-sponsored, social science study of revolution, was cancelled in 1965 amidst international and national discussion about the study's political implications. Subsequently, Camelot became the focus of a wide-ranging controversy about the connections between Cold War politics, military patronage, and American social science. This paper argues that following Camelot's demise, efforts to rethink the politics--patronage--social science nexus became an important part of what historian Peter Novick has called 'the epistemological revolution that began in the 1960s'. Novick claims that 'strictly academic' considerations provided the categories of analysis that challenged the scholarly mainstream's commitment to objectivity and related ideals, like value-neutrality and professional autonomy. In contrast, my analysis--which discusses post-WWII military patronage for the social sciences, Camelot's origins and cancellation, the ensuing controversy, and some long-term implications of this controversy--underscores the centrality of political developments and political concerns in that epistemological revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an introduction to the April 2001 issue of the journal "Social Studies of Science."