Abstract
I draw attention to the perceptions of and interactions between molecular biologists and scientists engaged in plant breeding in India, who have been attempting to employ molecular biology tools to understand and intervene to improve the rice crop. The present essay suggests that the concept of cognitive empathy is crucial for enabling basic scientists and applied scientists to begin to understand phenomena from the point of view of the other and from the point of view of society at large, and in arriving at solutions that are scientifically feasible and socially acceptable. Socialization into disciplinary cultures, organizational factors and individual anxieties seem to inhibit inter-disciplinary collaboration. The majority of rice breeders and a small group of molecular biologists emphasize the relative merits of marker-assisted selection (MAS) in the near term vis-à-vis the currently controversial transgenic approach for rice crop improvement in India.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alagh Y K 1993Commercialization of Biotechnologies in Agriculture: Some Key Issues;Biotechnology Monographs, Series 1, No. 1 (ed.) in S K Ray (New Delhi: Biotechnology Consortium India Ltd) pp 1–5
Ashby J A and Sperling L 1994Institutionalizing participatory client-driven research and technology development in agriculture, Agricultural Administration (Research and Extension Network paper 49 (London: ODI)
Benton Ted 1977Philosophical Foundations of Three Sociologies (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul)
Bhargava P M and Chakrabarti C 1991 The Role and Present Status of Biotechnology in India;Curr. Sci. 60 513–517
Buttel F H 1986 Biotechnology and agricultural research policy: Emergent issues; inNew directions for agriculture and agricultural research, neglected dimensions and emerging alternatives (ed.) K A Dalberg (Totowa, NJ: Rowan and Allenheld) pp
Callon M 1989 Society in the Making: The study of Technology as a Tool of Sociological Analysis; inThe Social Construction of Technological Systems (eds) Wiebe E Bijkeret al (MIT Press) pp 83–106
Coffman W R and Smith, M E 1991 Roles of public, industry and international research centre breeding programmes in developing germplasm for sustainable agriculture; inCSSA,Plant Breeding and Sustainable Agriculture: Considerations for Objectives and Methods, CSSA Special Publication No 18, pp 1–9
Farrington J 1997 Farmers participation in agricultural research extension: Lessons from the last decade;Biotechnol. Dev. Monit. 30 12–15
Fuerst J 1982 The role of Reduction in the Development of Molecular biology: Peripheral or Central?;Social Stud. Sci. 12 241–278
Haberli R 1995 Basic Aspects of Transdisciplinarity Exchange within SPP Environment;Panorama 5 pp 6–13
Haribabu E 1997From Contestation to Consensus; A Report on the 1997 National Rice Biotechnology Network Meeting University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad
Haraway D 1998 Modest Witness @Second_millennium; inThe Social shaping of technology (eds) Donald MacKenzie and Judy Wajcman (Buckingham: Open University Press) (2nd Edition) pp 41–49
Kuhn T 1970The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (London, Chicago: University of Chicago Press)
Lukes S 1974Power: A radical view (London: Macmillan)
Markle G and Stanley R 1985 Biotechnology and Social Reconstruction of Molecular biology;Sci. Technol. Hum. Values 10 70–79
Miettinen R 1998 Object Construction and Networks in Research Work: The Case of Research on Cellulose-Degrading Enzymes;Social Stud. Sci. 28 423–463
Meinke D and Koorneef M 1997 Community standards forArabidopsis genetics;Plant J. 12 247–253
Padmanabhan G 1991 An Assessment of the Current Status of Indian Science in Biotechnology;Curr. Sci. 60 510–513
Pinch T J and Bijker W 1984 The Social construction of Facts and Artifacts;Social Stud. Sci. 14 399–441
Powell W W, Kenneth W K and Smith-Doer L 1996 Interorganizational Collaboration and the locus of innovation: Networks of learning in biotechnology;Admin. Sci. Q. 41 116–145
Price D J 1982 The parallel structures of science and technology; inScience in Context: Readings the Sociology of Science (eds) Barry Barnes and David Edge (Milton Keynes: The Open University Press) pp 164–176
Smith J E 1996Biotechnology 3rd Edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Spillane C 2000 Could agricultural biotechnology contribute to poverty alleviation?;Ag Biotech Net 2 ABN042
Suchman L 1998 Working relations of technology production and use; inThe Social shaping of technology (eds) Donald MacKenzie and Judy Wajcman pp 258–265
Swaminathan M S 1987 Biotechnology and Agricultural Betterment in the Developing Countries; inBiotechnology in agriculture (eds) S Natesh, V L Chopra and S Ramachandran (New Delhi: Oxford and IBH) pp 3–11
Thro A M and Spillane C 2000Biotechnology-assisted Participatory Plant Breeding: complement or Contradiction? CGIAR Systemwide Program on Farmer Participatory Research Working document No 4, CIAT: Cali
Weber M 1964The theory of economic and social organizations (New York: Free Press)
Webster A 1990 The Incorporation of Biotechnology into Plantbreeding in Cambridge; inDeciphering science and technology: The social relations of expertise (eds) Ian Varcoe, Maureeen McNeil and Steven Yearly (London: Macmillan) pp 177–201
Ziman J 1996 Is Science losing Objectivity?;Nature (London) 382 751–754
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Haribabu, E. Cognitive empathy in inter-disciplinary research: The contrasting attitudes of plant breeders and molecular biologists towards rice. J Biosci 25, 323–330 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02703785
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02703785