34 SOCIAL SCIENTIST in which this purpose has been formulated and achieved. Science has concretely been both the source and manifestation of man's liberation from the rigid superstitions of medievalism, which led the proponents of science to refer to the period as "Dark Ages." From the conception of man as the plaything of forces beyond his reach, a being continuously, and often unpredictably, 'acted upon5 comes the leap to the revolutionary concept of man the protagonist, the controller of forces he had once submitted to. The implication of this dichotomy between the role of science, raising man's productivity to undreamed heights through a conscious control over the forces of nature, and the authority that science has been called upon to exercise, is not the unfathomable mystery it is often asserted to be. It is neither a case of man having been inexplicably 'left behind' while his knowledge surges forward, nor is it a case of the very nature of scientific knowledge—its emphasis on specialisation—being disruptive of a unified conception of the world, and hence, of human existence. In exposing the so-called 'mystery9 it is important to remember that "...it is futile to rail against science and technology. If they can be used as instruments of oppression and destruction, they can also be used to promote freedom and well-being.9'6 Knowledge, offering no apocalyptic vision, by itself, neither opens nor closes the door to further progress. It can, and does indicate the possibilities before man, providing the opportunity for making a choice. The choice, however, is ours. The specialisation, characteristic of science which has been denounced as the source of disruption has, in fact, led to a greater integration of the society in terms of productivity and purpose. This integration had significant social consequences for "not only have we here an increase in the productivity power of the individual but the creation of a new power, namely, the collective power of the masses."7 The socialised character of scientific research and the world-wide impact of its discoveries cannot but underscore the fact that science is a social product. J D Bernal demarcates three stages in the complete transformation of the position of science in the society on this basis : ...in the nineties, we are still in the era of private science that of the small laboratary of the professor or the back room of the inventor. The next stage first evident in the twenties and thirties of the new century, is the era of industrial science that of the research laboratary, spending a few tens of thousands of pounds and of the correspondingly expanding university department and the now subsidised research institute. The third stage, appearing first in the Soviet Union but becoming universal in the Second world war, is that of Governmental science, where the expences of research and development run into hundreds of millions of pounds and establishments as large as towns are needed to house the men and equipment needed for it.8