Is science and technology studies (STS) a luxury that our society cannot afford anymore? In this interview, Koichi Mikami tries to learn lessons from Steve Woolgar’s distinguished career on how the kind of sensibilities treasured within the field of STS and the type of critical engagement that its researchers aspire to might be best exercised in a changing landscape of higher education and academic research. Woolgar explains how he, at some key moments in his career, managed to create “a room” for reflexive thought and critical engagement in domains that could otherwise have been dominated by simple deterministic discourses. He explains that the questions of how and to whom you sell your criticism deserve as much attention as what your criticism is. A reflection by Koichi Mikami follows the interview.