S Barry Barnes University of Exeter, UK

Barry Barnes obtained degrees in Natural Sciences and in Sociology before taking a post in the Science Studies Unit, in the Faculty of Science at Edinburgh University. In due course he became Director of the Unit and a Professor of Sociology in the University. In 1992 he moved to the established chair in the Dept of Sociology at Exeter University, and is now a co-director of Egenis. Barry Barnes is known for his pioneering work on the sociological study of knowledge generation and evaluation in science, and on the basis of the credibility of scientific expertise. He has also a longstanding interest in the fundamental problems of the social sciences, particularly in collective action problems, in status groups as generators of [exclusionary] collective action, and in self-referring knowledge as constitutive of social order and systems of power. Since the mid-1990s he has been increasingly focusing his work upon the new human biotechnologies and their social and cultural significance.