Public Dialogue and the Scientific Citizen

Abstract

In British science policy circles, talk of public engagement and dialogue has become ubiquitous. Since the late-1990s, the language of ‘public understanding of science’ has given way to a new emphasis on openness, transparency and re-building trust between science, government and the wider publics. Much has certainly changed in terms of the rhetoric of scientific governance since the height of the ‘mad cow’ (BSE) crisis. However, in this chapter I want to look more closely at the nature of this change in order to explore underlying — and often unconsidered — elements of continuity, dislocation and contradiction. In so doing, the point is not to deny the very real commitment to engagement and dialogue which exists in certain policy circles nor to diminish the very real activities that have taken place in the form of specific engagement exercises. Instead, this chapter aims to put all this ‘talk about talk’ into wider context and to identify some of the very significant conceptual and policy-related questions that need to be considered.

The time is ripe for government to engage earlier and more deeply with the public in the development of policies and priorities, so that they are informed by public aspirations and concerns from the outset.

(Council for Science and Technology, March 2005)

The acquisition of a basic grounding in science and technology by the European public and a regular flow of information to the public from experts are not in themselves enough to enable people to form an opinion. A true dialogue must therefore be instituted between science and society.

(European Commission, 2002: 14)