Communicating Science and Technology in Society: Issues of Public Accountability and Engagement

200 Pages·2021·2.831 MB·English

by  Ana Delicado, Fabienne Crettaz Von Roten, Katarina Prpić

Ana Delicado
Fabienne Crettaz Von Roten
Katarina Prpić  Editors
Communicating
Science and
Technology in
Society
Issues of Public Accountability and
Engagement
Communicating Science and Technology in Society
(cid:129) (cid:129)
Ana Delicado Fabienne Crettaz Von Roten
ć
Katarina Prpi
Editors
Communicating Science
and Technology in Society
Issues of Public Accountability
and Engagement
Editors
AnaDelicado FabienneCrettazVonRoten
InstitutodeCiênciasSociaisda UniversityofLausanne
UniversidadedeLisboa Lausanne,Switzerland
Lisbon,Portugal
KatarinaPrpić
InstituteforSocialResearch
Zagreb,Croatia
ISBN978-3-030-52884-3 ISBN978-3-030-52885-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52885-0
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Contents
1 Introduction:HowtheSociologyofScienceandTechnology
AddressesScienceandSocietyRelations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
AnaDelicado
PartI Scientists’ResearchPracticesandResponsestoSocietalDemands
2 Norms,Competition,andVisibilityinContemporaryScience:
TheLegacyofRobertK.Merton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
MassimianoBucchi
3 Re-distributingResponsibilityinTransdisciplinaryKnowledge
ProductionandCirculation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
ThomasVölker
4 HowDoScientistsDoingAnimalExperimentationViewthe
Co-evolutionBetweenScienceandSociety?TheSwissCase. . . . . . 59
FabienneCrettazVonRoten
5 Science-SocietyRelationsinaContextofTechnologicalChange:How
ScientistsWorkingonRenewableEnergyTechnologiesPerceive
TheirRoleintheEnergyTransition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
LuísJunqueira
PartII ScienceCommunicationandCitizenParticipationinScience
6 BringingSciencetothePublic:IsItaMatterforScientific
Associations?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
CristinaPalmaConceição
7 TurningtheGazeonOurselves:PublicCommunication
ofSociology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
AnaDelicado
v
vi Contents
8 TechnologiesofParticipationinWaterPlansinPortugal:WhatKind
ofScience–SocietyRelationshipAreWeTalkingAbout?. . . . . . . . 137
SofiaBentoandOrianaRainhoBrás
9 MaterialTrajectories:HowIssuesCometoMatterinaCitizen
Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
GuillemPalàandMiquelDomènech
10 TwoTurtles:ChildrenandAutonomyinParticipatoryTechnological
Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
NúriaVallès-PerisandMiquelDomènech
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
List of Figures
Fig.4.1 Distributionofthenumberofconstraintsaccepted................ 72
Fig.4.2 Two-dimensionalcorrespondenceanalysismap................... 73
Fig.6.1 ScientificassociationsinPortugalbyyearoffoundation.Source:
censusofscientificassociationsinPortugal,2012.Datanot
availablefor60associations......................................... 102
Fig.6.2 Researchers’motivationsforbelongingtoaPortuguesescientific
association,bytypeofassociation(%).Source:surveyof
researchersworkinginPortugal,2012;N¼462.................. 104
Fig.6.3 Proportionof“non-scientists”amongthePortuguesescientific
associations’members(%).Source:surveyofthePortuguese
scientificassociations,2012;N¼86............................... 105
Fig.6.4 Frequencyofpubliccommunicationofscienceactivities(inthe
last5years),foryoungpeopleandthegeneralpublic,bytypeof
scientificassociation(%).Source:surveyofthePortuguese
scientificassociations,2012;N¼105.............................. 106
Fig.6.5 Collaborationwithotherinstitutionsforthesakeofpublic
communicationofscience,bytypeofscientificassociation(%).
Source:surveyofthePortuguesescientificassociations,2012;
N¼77................................................................. 107
Fig.6.6 CiênciaViva’snationalsummercampaign:numberofinstitutions
participating,byyear(2003–2014)andtypeofinstitution(%).
Source:Conceição(2011);updatedwithdatafromtheCiência
Vivawebsite........................................................... 112
Fig.6.7 CiênciaViva’snationalsummercampaign:averagenumberof
eventsperinstitutioneveryyear(2003–2014),bytypeof
institution.Source:Conceição(2011);updatedwithdatafromthe
CiênciaVivawebsite.Note:“Associations”includesasmall
numberofeventspromotedbynon-scientificassociations(suchas
culturalorlocaldevelopmentassociations)......................... 113
vii
viii ListofFigures
Fig.8.1 Modesofgovernance(basedonHagendijketal.2005)........... 140
Fig.8.2 Waterplans,secondcycle(source:APA2015b)................... 144
Fig.9.1 Trajectoryfollowedbytheissue..................................... 171
Fig.10.1 Fulllife-cycleoftheparticipatoryprocess.......................... 185
Fig.10.2 Turtle-designprototype.Note:Virtualdesignoftheturtlerobot
madebytheroboticistsinvolvedintheprojectafterthechildren’s
participativeprocess.................................................. 188
Fig.10.3 Thepostingepisode.Note:Picturesofchildrendoingtheactivity
ofphase1forsharingaworkflowwithroboticistsandsocial
scientists............................................................... 190
Fig.10.4 Prototypeskeptintrays............................................... 191
List of Tables
Table4.1 Socio-historicanalysisoftheissueofanimalexperimentation
inSwitzerlandfromthe1950suntiltoday........................ 62
Table4.2 Demographicsofrespondents...................................... 68
Table4.3 Generalassessmentofthecourse.................................. 70
Table4.4 Attitudestowardthe3Rsprinciples............................... 70
Table4.5 FrequencyofPOEactivitiesinthelast12months............... 71
Table5.1 Profileofresearchersinterviewed................................. 82
Table7.1 DataonsociologyresearchinPortugal........................... 122
Table10.1 Phasesoftheparticipativeprocessfordesigningasocial
robotwithchildren.................................................. 187
ix
Chapter 1
Introduction: How the Sociology of Science
and Technology Addresses Science
and Society Relations
AnaDelicado
An Overview
Thesociologyofscienceandtechnologyhasbeengraduallybroadeningitsscopeof
study. Early works paid particular attention to the functioning of the scientific
system,suchasthevaluesandnormsthatregulateit,therewardsandthereputation
of individual scientists, the competition and collaboration within the scientific
community,theaccumulationofscientificcapital,andthestrategiesofreproduction
or subversion (see, for instance, Hagstrom 1965, Merton 1973, Bourdieu 1975). It
thenmovedtowardanexaminationofscientificpractices,howscienceisproduced
inthelaboratoriesandinthefield,howscientificclaimsarebuiltandcontested,and
how scientific knowledge is set apart and raises boundaries with other forms of
knowledge(see,forinstance,Bloor1976,Gieryn1983,LatourandWoolgar1986,
Knorr-Cetina2009).1
A third and more recent strand of research in the sociology of science concerns
how the scientific field connects with other spheres of society. This strand derives
partially from changes in science itself. Increasingly pushed to leave their “ivory
tower”,tobecomeaccountabletotaxpayers,togenerateuseful,marketableproducts,
to take responsibility for negative impacts, to engage with the concerns of citizens
and stakeholders and regain their trust, scientists are forced to establish ties with
non-academicactors.
Sociologyofscienceandtechnologyhasgeneratedmanytheoreticalframeworks
tounderstandthesechanges.Forexample,Actor-NetworkTheoryconnectsexperts
and non-experts, humans, and non-humans, and examines the translations that
1Foramorein-depthanalysisofthemutationsinScienceandTechnologyStudies,seeEdge(1995),
Martinetal.(2012)orFeltetal.(2016).
A.Delicado(*)
InstitutodeCiênciasSociaisdaUniversidadedeLisboa,Lisbon,Portugal
e-mail:[email protected]
©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2021 1
A.Delicadoetal.(eds.),CommunicatingScienceandTechnologyinSociety,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52885-0_1