Does the engagement between science and society pose risks for intelligent scientific practice?

Abstract

This paper examines the interaction between science and society. Society considers these interactions as vital to understand and reduce the uncertainty of the impact of scientific activity on society. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the converse situationwhether the engagement of society with scientific activity creates uncertainty (or perceived risks) in terms of scientific practice, and whether there is potential for this engagement to create tensions in terms of the intelligent nature of scientific practice. In order to achieve this, a cultural-historical, activity-based conceptualisation of intelligence is applied to scientific activity and its implications are discussed in terms of sciencesociety interactions.

Driving responsible research and innovation: Science, society and the energy movement

“…As Vally (2015, 162) explicates, more academics need to focus on addressing concrete problems in the public domain by moving beyond technical ability and 'linking programmes and projects to community needs and struggles'. This need, we would argue, is particularly significant in science and engineering education, where students need to be prepared to become what Lotriet (2015) calls 'engagement agents'. It is eminently possible to do this, despite many protestations to the contrary.…”

“…For our purposes, this indicates a need to situate and contextualise science's engagement with society within broader currents of change, and strategically focus on specific issues, such as alternative energies. Science should be seen as one of many actors within a social network of engagement (Lotriet 2015). The solution of social problems requires concerted and coordinated effort, and scientific input into these processes needs to be made in such a way that others are able to use it.…”

“…Chambers (1992, 516-517) goes on to identify four 'defects' in social scientific inquiry into development: the first is that 'things have come before people'; second, 'poorer people have been easily neglected'; third, 'conventional methods of social investigation have been ... irrelevant, late, wrong or unusable'; and, finally, 'information has been acquired, owned, and analysed mainly or only by outsiders'. This emphasises that scientific knowledge, technologies and practices must take cognisance of social context so as to link science with social values and that one of the benefits of science-society engagement may be to slow science down (Lotriet 2015) and address inequalities in access to the products of science.…”