John Durant

George Gaskell

Martin W. Bauer

A comprehensive assessment of European public opinion and biotechnology. It brings together comparative research on policy making, media coverage and public perceptions. This book is the major output from a three-year research initiative undertaken by an international, multidisciplinary team of social scientists. Following an introductory conceptualisation of biotechnology in the public sphere, Part Two brings together information on the policy activity, media coverage and public perceptions of biotechnology in European countries. Part Three is a detailed analysis of a major European survey of public perceptions. Part Four brings together the three elements of the research and provides a synthetic overview of the development of public perceptions of biotechnology in Europe.

A European Sourcebook

Biotechnology in the Public Sphere

Bernard Schiele

Xuan Liu

Science and technology culture is now more than ever at the very heart of the social project, and all countries, to varying degrees, participate in it: raising scientific literacy, improving the image of the sciences, involving the public in debates and encouraging the young to pursue careers in the sciences. Thus, the very destiny of any society is now entwined with its ability to develop a genuine science and technology culture, accessible for participation not only to the few who, by virtue of their training or trade, work in the science and technology fields, but to all, thereby creating occasions for society to debate and to foster a positive dialogue about the directions of change and future choices. This book organized on the theme of ‘knowing, sharing, caring: new insights for a diverse world’, which was derived from the observation that globalization rests upon diversity—diversity of contexts, publics, research, strategies and new innovating practices—and aims to stimulate exchanges, discussions and debates, to initiate a reflection conducive to decentring and to be an opportunity for enrichment by providing the reader with means to achieve the potentialities of that diversity through a comparison of the visions that underpin the attitudes of social actors, the challenges they perceive and the potential solutions they consider. Thus, this book aims first and foremost to raise questions in such a manner that readers so stimulated will feel compelled to contribute and will do so. In this spirit, however significant, the results presented and shared are less important than the questions they seek to answer: How are we to rethink the diffusion, the propagation and the sharing of scientific thought and knowledge in an ever more complex and diverse world? What to know? What to share? How do we do it when science is broken down across the whole spectrum of the world’s diversity? The book is recommended for those who are interested in science communication and science cultures in the new media era, in contemporary social dynamics, and in the evolution of the role of the state and of institutions. It is also an excellent reference for researchers engaging in science communication, public understanding of science, cultural studies, science and technology museum, science–society relationship and other fields of humanities and social sciences.

Science Cultures in a Diverse World: Knowing, Sharing, Caring

Rajesh Shukla

Nick Allum

This book offers the first comparative account of the changes and stabilities of public perceptions of science within the US, France, China, Japan, and across Europe over the past few decades. The contributors address the influence of cultural factors; the question of science and religion and its influence on particular developments (e.g. stem cell research); and the demarcation of science from non-science as well as issues including the ‘incommensurability’ versus ‘cognitive polyphasia’ and the cognitive (in)tolerance of different systems of knowledge.

How the Public Relates to Science Across the Globe

The Culture of Science

"Atom," "byte" and "gene" are metonymies for techno-scientific developments of the 20th century: nuclear power, computing and genetic engineering. Resistance continues to challenge these developments in public opinion. This book traces historical debates over atoms, bytes and genes which raised controversy with consequences, and argues that public opinion is a factor of the development of modern techno-science. The level and scope of public controversy is an index of resistance, examined here with a "pain analogy" which shows that just as pain impacts movement, resistance impacts techno-scientific mobilization: it signals that something is wrong, and this requires attention, elaboration and a response to the challenge. This analysis shows how different fields of enquiry deal with the resistance of social-psychological mentalities in the face of industrial, scientific and political activities inspired by projected futures.

Public Resistance and Techno-Scientific Responses

Atoms, Bytes and Genes

Massimiano Bucchi

Analyzing the role of journalists in science communication, this book presents a perspective on how this is going to evolve in the twenty-first century. The book takes three distinct perspectives on this interesting subject. Firstly, science journalists reflect on their ‘operating rules’ (science news values and news making routines). Secondly, a brief history of science journalism puts things into context, characterising the changing output of science writing in newspapers over time. Finally, the book invites several international journalists or communication scholars to comment on these observations thereby opening the global perspective. This unique project will interest a range of readers including science communication students, media studies scholars, professionals working in science communication and journalists.

Science Communication between News and Public Relations

Journalism, Science and Society

Rom Harré

Carl Jensen

Resistance used to mean irrational and reactionary behaviour, assuming that rationality resides on the side of progress and its parties. The end of the Cold War allows us to drop ideological and prejudicial analysis. Indeed, we recognise that resistance is a historical constant, and its relation to rationality or irrationality is not predetermined. This volume asks: to what extent are social scientific conceptions of ‘resistances’ sui generis, or borrowed from natural sciences by metaphor and analogy? To what extent do the social sciences continue to be a ‘social tribology’ lubricating a process of strategic changes? Fifteen authors explore these questions from the point of view of different disciplines including physics, biology, social psychology, history of science, history of medicine, legal theory, political science, history, police studies, psychotherapy research and art theory. The book offers a unique panorama of concepts of ‘resistance’ and examines the potential of a general ‘resistology’ across diverse practices of rationality.

Resistance and the Practice of Rationality

Gordon Sammut

Theoretically different modalities of social influence are set out and a blueprint for the study of socio-political dynamics is delivered.

Martin W. Bauer

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