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Bringing Science to the Public: Is It a Matter for Scientific Associations?

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Communicating Science and Technology in Society

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Abstract

Learned societies are among the earliest communicators of science and many contemporary scientific associations continue to play a relevant role in public communication and public engagement with science alongside other more specialized and professionalised actors. Nevertheless, such associations and their role in this field remain a largely under-investigated topic. This study aims to help overcome this lack. Are all scientific associations participating in these efforts to bring science closer to the public? Why are they doing it and to what extent is this relevant to their members? How important are such organizations in this field? Are they all using the same approach to public? The chapter draws mostly on a research project concerning Portuguese scientific associations, and on a set of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Two types of associations are here considered: (1) the (older) scientific societies (mostly of a disciplinary nature), in which public understanding/engagement with science is becoming an increasingly important issue, although it is part of a wider array of actions and functions largely oriented to their own members (most of which science/research professionals); (2) the (newer) science dissemination associations (such as astronomy clubs, nature groups, science promotion NGOs, etc.), having a more diverse range of members, and whose recent growth is clearly a sign of the rise of “scientific culture”, both as a scientists’ concern and as a policy priority. More often associations of the first type opt for one-way, top-down communication formats, while those of the latter tend to choose more diversified and innovative formats (e.g. “hands-on”, “citizen science”, etc.).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    SOCSCI Scientific Societies in Contemporary Science, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/CS-ECS/101592/2008) between March 2010 and August 2012, at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon, with the collaboration of the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (University Institute of Lisbon) and SOCIUS (University of Lisbon).

  2. 2.

    On the importance of this Agency in the Portuguese context, see also the contributions to this volume by Ana Delicado (Chap. 7) and Luís Junqueira (Chap. 5).

  3. 3.

    On the affinity between the environmental movement and the public communication of science, see Yearley (2008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES-Iscte), ISCTE—University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL)/Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies (ESHTE), Lisbon, Portugal

    Cristina Palma Conceição

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  1. Cristina Palma Conceição
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Correspondence to Cristina Palma Conceição .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Ana Delicado

  2. University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Fabienne Crettaz Von Roten

  3. Institute for Social Research, Zagreb, Croatia

    Katarina Prpić

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Conceição, C.P. (2021). Bringing Science to the Public: Is It a Matter for Scientific Associations?. In: Delicado, A., Crettaz Von Roten, F., Prpić, K. (eds) Communicating Science and Technology in Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52885-0_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52885-0_6

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