According to Harvey Brooks, there are four main reasons for the support of scientific research: cultural, economic, social and educational. Needless to say, opinions differ as to the proper measure of Federal responsibility for each of these purposes. Brooks, who is chairman of the US National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science and Public Policy, goes on to describe four models of the research system based on these reasons for support:
▸ Science as a quasiautonomous, self‐structuring activity that ultimately benefits society but must be left to develop according to its own internal dynamics if the social benefits are to be realized most efficiently (model attributed to Michael Polanyi and Derek de Solla Price)
▸ Science as a social overhead on applied research and development, aimed at specific social objectives and missions (model attributed to Alvin Weinberg)
▸ Science as a social overhead investment, in which research and education—in the broadest sense of the development of institutional and individual capacity to the maximum potential—are inseparable objectives (unattributed)
▸ Science as a tertiary industry or consumption good, representing the nonmaterial, nonproduction aspect of the goals and activities of an increasingly affluent society (model attributed to Stephen Toulmin)
