Skip to main content
Log in

What students and researchers in nanoscience and nanotechnology should know about PUS and STS: a look at Fages and Albe’s viewpoint on social issues in nanoscience and nanotechnology Master’s degrees

  • Forum
  • Published:
Cultural Studies of Science Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, in order to pursue the conversation begun by Fages and Albe (Cult Stud Sci Educ 2014), I highlight three conceptual contributions that could be made by familiarizing nanoscience and nanotechnology researchers and engineers with the work being carried out in science and technology studies and public understanding of science. First, it would allow them to become acquainted with less naive conceptualizations of the capacities of citizens. Second, it would help them to consider the nature and role of scientific expertise from richer, more nuanced and less stereotypical conceptual angles. Third and lastly, it would allow future researchers and engineers to become familiar with different models of interaction between citizens, scientists and decision.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bonney, R., Cooper, C. B., Dickinson, J., Kelling, S., Phillips, T., Rosenberg, K. V., et al. (2009). Citizen science: A developing tool for expanding science knowledge and scientific literacy. BioScience, 59, 977–984. doi:10.1525/bio.2009.59.11.9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callon, M. (1999). The role of lay people in the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge. Science Technology & Society, 4, 81–94. doi:10.1177/097172189900400106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callon, M., Lascoumes, P., & Barthe, Y. (2001). Agir dans un monde incertain: essai sur la démocratie technique (p. 357). Paris: Éditions du Seuil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dubochet, J. (2003). Teaching scientists to be citizens. European Molecular Biology Organization, 4, 330–332. doi:10.1038/sj.embor.embr810.

    Google Scholar 

  • Editorial. (2013). Double vision. Nature, 497, 409.

    Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, S. (1995). The construction of lay expertise: AIDS activism and the forging of credibility in the reform of clinical trials. Science, Technology and Human Values, 20, 408–437. doi:10.1177/016224399502000402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fages, V., & Albe, V. (2014). Social issues in nanoscience and nanotechnology master’s degrees: The socio-political stakes of curricular choices. Cultural Studies of Science Education. doi:10.1007/s11422-014-9591-2.

  • Gura, T. (2013). Amateur experts. Nature, 496, 259–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (2000). How like a leaf: An interview with Thyrza Nichols Goodeve. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hess, D., Breyman, S., Campbell, N., & Martin, B. (2008). Science, technology, and social movements. In E. J. Hackett, O. Amsterdamska, M. Lynch, & J. Wajcman (Eds.), The handbook of science and technology studies (3rd ed., pp. 473–498). Cambridge, Londres: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jasanoff, S. (2003). Technologies of humility: Citizen participation in governing science. Minerva, 41, 223–244. doi:10.1023/A:1025557512320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jasanoff, S. (2012). Science and the public reason. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kent, J. (2003). Lay experts and the politics of breast implants. Public Understanding of science, 12, 403–421. doi:10.1177/0963662503124005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleinman, D. L. (2000). Introduction. In D. L. Kleinman (Ed.), Science, technology, and democracy (pp. 1–12). Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milot, P. (2003). La reconfiguration des universités selon l’OCDE. Économie du savoir et politique de l’innovation. Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 3(148), 68–73. doi:10.3406/arss.2003.3323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mouffe, C. (1999). Deliberative democracy or agonistic pluralism? Social Research, 66, 745–758.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelkin, D. (1995). Selling science: How the press covers science and technology. New York: W. H. Freeman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petts, J. (2004). Barriers to participation and deliberation in risk decisions: Evidence from waste management. Journal of Risk Research, 7, 115–133. doi:10.1080/1366987042000158695.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roqueplo, P. (1997). Entre savoir et décision, l’expertise scientifique. Versailles: Editions Quæ.

  • Rowe, G., & Frewer, L. J. (2005). A typology of public engagement mechanisms. Science, Technology and Human Values, 30, 251–290. doi:10.1177/0162243904271724.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silvertown, J. (2009). A new dawn for citizen science. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 24, 467–471. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2009.03.017.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suerdem, A., Bauer, M. W., Howard, S., & Ruby, L. (2013). PUS in turbulent times II—A shifting vocabulary that brokers inter-disciplinary knowledge. Public Understanding of science, 22, 2–15. doi:10.1177/0963662512471911.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tachibana, M., Amato, P., Sparman, M., Gutierrez, N. M., Tippner-Hedges, R., Ma, H., et al. (2013). Human embryonic stem cells derived by somatic cell nuclear transfer. Cell, 153, 1–11. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.006.

  • Trute, H.-H. (2005). Democratizing science: Expertise and participation in administrative decision-making. In H. Nowotny, D. Pestre, E. Schmidt-Assmann, H. Schulze-Fielitz, & H.-H. Trute (Eds.), The public nature of science under assault: Politics, markets, Science and the law (pp. 87–108). Berlin: Springer. doi:10.1007/3-540-28886-4_5.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wynne, B. (2001). Creating public alienation: Expert cultures of risk and ethics on GMOs. Science as Culture, 10, 445–481. doi:10.1080/09505430120093586.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chantal Pouliot.

Additional information

This review essay addresses issues raised in Fages and Albe’s article, Social issues in nanoscience and nanotechnology master’s degrees: the socio-political stakes of curricular choices.

Lead Editor: L. Carter

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pouliot, C. What students and researchers in nanoscience and nanotechnology should know about PUS and STS: a look at Fages and Albe’s viewpoint on social issues in nanoscience and nanotechnology Master’s degrees. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 10, 459–467 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-014-9591-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-014-9591-2

Keywords

Navigation