Nutrition as a Social Problem: A Case Study of Entrepreneurial Strategy in Science

Abstract

From 1885 to 1900, the first generation of nutrition scientists in the United States successfully campaigned for federal funding for their research. They claimed that nutrition science could improve the living conditions of the working class without raising wages, by showing workers how to eat economically. This paper traces five stages in the construction of nutrition as a social problem through an examination of the career of Wilbur O. Atwater, first leader of the nutrition movement in the United States, and others prominent in the field. The case of nutrition research shows the importance of entrepreneurial strategies in both the definition of social problems and the development of scientific disciplines.