Science for the People is a science-activist organization dedicated to building a radical political movement in science and society. Membership in SftP is defined by actively participating in national work or local chapters. SftP members use bottom-up strategies to build a science-activist organization that:
- Opposes all forms of oppression, exploitation and marginalization, while recognizing the role of science in these conditions, and the responsibility of science and science education in liberatory struggles against all of these conditions
- Builds parity within the organization for marginalized, oppressed, and exploited peoples
- Works to organize labor in the scientific workforce
- Conducts radical, politically and scientifically informed investigation into problems of science and society
- Promotes positive instances of the use of scientific and technical expertise, providing scientists with knowledge and opportunities to use their specific training in accordance with SftP principles
- Resists the use of science for exploitation, oppression, capitalism, imperialism, war, and environmental destruction
- Struggles for system change to address the root causes of social, economic, and ecological problems
- Affirms a deep respect for all life in the motivation for and practice of science
- Opposes the assumption that humans have the right to exert violence upon, exploit, and control other humans, non-human animals, and nature
- Recognizes scientific knowledge outside of establishment institutions
- Recognizes, supports, and encourages the role of scientific knowledge and scientific investigation in building equitable futures, increasing understandings of our world, and guiding public policy
- Fights the corruption of science by systems of power and builds democratic forms to expand access to scientific tools and knowledge
- Supports the development and implementation of radical science curricula and applying critical pedagogy to cultivate politically informed understandings of how science functions in society