Grassroots AIDS Knowledge: Implications for the Boundaries of Science and Collective Action

Grassroots AIDS groups create, disseminate, and interpret knowledge. Their success in these new roles shows that traditional, top-down dissemination theories are inadequate; the debate over marginal innovation has defined marginality too simplistically; and the scientific journal is not the only source of scientific information. These circumstances—combined with what is known about “boundary work” by mainstream scientists—indicate that, despite problms, AIDS grassroots knowledge production challenges traditional definitions and boundaries of scientific work and offers a gateway to wider democratization of science. Using a resource mobilization approach, the authors assess whether the grassroots' AIDS knowledge production model applies in other public policy issues, such as toxic exposure and women's health resarch.