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3S WP 2012-04 Pallett – The (Re)publics of Science: Changing Policy and Participation

3S / December 4, 2014

Changing visions of science and the characterization of scientific expertise have been co-produced with imaginations of ‘the public’ and its proper role in science policy-making. Since the middle of the twentieth century, visions of science as the product of an isolated community devoted to free intellectual inquiry have largely been replaced by the recognition both of scientists’ reliance on public support and of the far-reaching societal consequences of scientific and technological innovation. Consequently, publics have been increasingly brought in to science policy-making and its institutional machinery. Yet simultaneously the practice and theory of public participation in science policy have faced fierce critiques. It has been claimed that the shift towards public dialogue has been merely rhetorical, whilst old visions of the autonomy of scientific progress remain strong and the instrumental imperatives of science policy-making threaten emerging modes of decision-making. This paper explores these developments as an introduction to the new and developing critical public engagement literature, which seeks to constructively engage with these new interactions between scientific expertise, publics and science policy-making. Future pathways for the literature and science policy-making are then suggested.

Pallett, H. (2012) The (Re)publics of Science: Changing Policy and Participation. 3S Working Paper 2012-04. Norwich: Science, Society and Sustainability Research Group.

3S WP 2012-04 Pallett

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December 4, 2014 in 3S working paper, Knowledges and expertise, Participation and engagement, Publications. Tags: expertise, public engagement, publics, republic of science

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3S WP 2012-06 Chilvers – Reflexive Engagement: Actors, Learning and Reflexivity in Participatory Governance of Science and Technology

3S WP 2012-17 Chilvers – Expertise, Technologies and Ecologies of Participation

3S WP 2013-18 Borie Hulme – The authority of expertise in Global Environmental Assessments

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3S WP 2012-05 Groomes and Seyfang – Secondhand Spaces and Sustainable Consumption: Examining Freecycle’s Environmental Impacts and User Motivations →

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Participation and Engagement

The rise of public participation in science and the environment in all its forms – ranging from institutionalised invited spaces of engagement to those that are uninvited and citizen-led – has the potential to empower citizens, enhance social justice and the quality of decisions, but also to close down, disempower and exclude. Research under this theme involves the study of democratic experiments and innovations in participatory governance. These are reconfiguring relationships between science, policy and society and coproducing knowledges, appraisals and commitments in response to sustainability challenges.

Knowledges and Expertise

Different types of knowledge are important when seeking to understand environmental issues: alongside scientific and technical knowledge, experiential, embodied, indigenous and local knowledges are often called upon in public discourse. The boundaries between these different forms of knowledge are often fluid and they can be expressed through different types of expertise. Confrontations between these different forms of knowledge and expertise can trigger public controversy. This research strand of the 3S Group studies the origins of these different forms of environmental knowledge and how their associated types of expertise are authorised in various social settings. This understanding can contribute to an improved grasp of the dynamics between evidence and policymaking and to appreciating the role and limits of knowledge in contributing to social and cultural change.

About 3S

We conduct world-leading research on the social and political dimensions of environment and sustainability issues. 3S is based in the School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, UK.

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