The history of science under Stalin and Hitler is often contrasted with that in the 'democratic' West, where science is supposedly allowed to progress unhindered by the ideological baggage of a totalitarian society.
If science is measured by the technologies it produces, it is hard to sustain the idea that science is unaffected by politics; microwave ovens, pocket calculators, compact disc players, and laser surgery, have all resulted from military science.
Science cannot be understood unless it is seen as a subject which emerges from a history of human activity, and therefore is as prone as any sphere of human activity to an analysis based on a class understanding of society.
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