Analysing PTAs in a Polycontextual Society

Abstract

The emergence of public engagement procedures as a response to technological controversies is not an incidental phenomenon in modern societies. Such procedures are all intimately linked to the structures and dynamics of contemporary societies. Yet, they take on very different forms, so how can we analyse and interpret similarities and differences of such procedures in a fruitful manner? This chapter explores some of the concepts central to the study of technological controversies such as ‘risk’, ‘trust’, ‘participation’ and ‘the public’ within a broader sociological analysis of modern society as a means to render diverse processes comparable. The discussion of these concepts is based on the systems theoretical approach of Niklas Luhmann, whose work has found little application in the research on public engagement (in English) so far (see e.g. Bora 1999). The chapter is therefore also a discussion of how technological controversies and public engagement can be analysed within this paradigm.