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A Vision for Science and Society?
By ucrhbrb, on 1 October 2008
Two quotes from the on-going public consultation by the Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills, A Vision for Science and Society: http://interactive.dius.gov.uk/scienceandsociety/site/
“The Government is committed to creating a society that is excited about science and values its importance to our social and economic well-being; feels confident in its use; and supports a representative, well-qualified workforce”
“As the pace of scientific development accelerates, so too does the pace of change in our society. Our challenge is to make the most of the talents of all our people so that Britain can compete in this globalised world of the future. Such a fast pace has the potential to have the harshest impact on those least equipped to respond. We want to ensure that everyone is able to share in the increasing prosperity and the opportunities that scientific progress brings and nobody gets left behind”
Am I being unfair by picking on these two quotes or does the consultation document make a range of assumptions that most people with a rudimentary knowledge of STS would question:
1. The pace of scientific change drives social change (linear model?)
2. Science impacts on society (but apart from direct public engagement, society doesn’t influence science?)
3. The public as ‘consumer’ of science (what about citizenship, critic, advocate, collborator…?)
4. Excited people = ‘confident’ people
5. The aim of science is to contribute to economic competitiveness (only??)
6. Science brings opportunities but not challenges (?)
7. Scientists are autonomous knowledge producers (except insofar as they are ‘engaged with’ or made to ‘communicate to the public’)
Brian
6 Responses to “A Vision for Science and Society?”
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simon_lock wrote on 1 October 2008:
I absolutely agree with you Brian…lots of unfounded assumptions in this document, both about science and the public, as well as the role and objectives of public engagement.
One fault of the whole thing seems to be the conflation within the ‘science and society agenda’ of two aims:
the first being to generate excitement for science at a school level to keep a steady flow of people entering the profession.
the second being the policy agenda, whereby excitement really isn’t something that is relevant, and the focus should be more on the collective social shaping of science and technology. Instead here the government seems to be only conceiving public engagement as a means of persuading, or reassuring, the public that the science is ok.
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Richard Milne wrote on 2 October 2008:
It seems a real case of back to the future. There’s a bit of me hopes that it been made deliberately provocative to encourage people to use their fancy online consultation page, second only to the new STS blog. If so, it’s not really working, as there are only 23 comments so far on the whole document.
In terms of the consultation site itself, there’s a definite return of the deficit – “What may sound like a big question for the specialists is in reality a fascinating mixture of issues and themes in which we all have an interest”. Come look at the shiny new toys of science.
The wording of the whole document is quite striking. I’m not sure I’m completely with Simon here when he says excitement isn’t relevant in the policy agenda. I know he’s referring to the content of the document, but the way it is displayed is definitely relevant to the shape of the document. Looking at just the bit you posted here, there’s a real attempt to reinforce ideas of science as essential progress (and thus influence both policy and the consultation) through the descriptions of ‘pace’ and ‘acceleration’. It’s much more difficult to make critical commentary on a document that’s so bubbling over with enthusiasm.
Its all saved however, by the best idea for future conferences: “participants walked, flew and teleported into breakout groups” (but unfortunately, only in Second Life)
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Don’t forget that this consultation is still live. Responses can be made at the DIUS website.