Scholarship and Advocacy | 505 tics, for example, was a major advocate for the Left; after inventing the atomic bomb, Albert Einstein was a strong advocate against its use The more difficult question is the role of advocacy within the actual enterprise of scholarship Contemporary philosophers and sociologists of science challenge the received view that it is possible for a scholar to take no position on the material he or she investigates One major idea in this challenge is field theory Both the object of investigation and its investigator are embedded in the same field or system With regard to the object of investigation, the strategy of breaking it down into small bits, isolating them, and controlling for all other variables is thrown into question If the targets of study, particularly involving social or cultural topics, are inherently embedded in a field or system, investigations must include, rather than control for, those contexts Far from being independent or outside of the scholarly enterprise, the investigator is embedded within that field, and so necessarily has a position (attitudes, values, biases) on it Although presented as facts or findings, scientific findings are actually social constructs, products of political, social, economic, and even personal forces Although science can take as its regulating ideal the goal of understanding, independent of these forces and treating them as contaminants, in practice science is messier Independence of view, the view from nowhere, is a fiction For example, although scientists strive to maintain the same external, objective non-relationship to animate objects as they to inanimate objects of study, they form a relationship even with the likes of mice and rats, as described in Davis and Balfour’s The Inevitable Bond: Examining scientist-animal interactions A bond or relationship implies an evaluative view of the another being, including recognition of his or her interests and the pull to advocate for those interests Although a possible and even admirable ideal, there is no value-free inquiry Scholarship occurs in an enterprise that is value-laden Scholars bring their values to it, those values are changed through the research, and the results of the research influence society’s values and practices Is an enterprise that is value-laden in these ways distinguishable from advocacy? Are scholars necessarily advocates? To look more closely at the advocacy side of the question, it’s necessary to distinguish advocacy from activism Activism is one form of advocacy, emphasizing vigorous action for a cause— protests, strikes, sabotage, boycotts, and sit-ins But advocacy has a quieter, more slow-burning side as well Much of the work of contemporary animal protection organizations involves exposing the public to animal abuse and exploitation through an array of printed and other media— leafleting in the mall or showing a video on a truck jerry-rigged for that purpose This quiet activism makes no claim to scholarship, as typically no new knowledge or understanding is developed But is it even education? Although an exposé may be factual and the information it provides is often new to the targeted audience, it presents only one side of an issue and explicitly advocates for that side Although we loosely refer to it as educational, it is closer to propaganda, in that it propagates or promotes a particular view or practice From advocacy as activism and advocacy as exposé, consider classroom education A teacher may or may not be a researcher, but the curriculum he or she presents relies more on research findings