** Nuclear energy, stem cell technology, GMOs: the more science advances, the more society seems to resist. But are we really watching a death struggle between opposing forces, as so many would have it? Can today's complex technical policy decisions coincide with the needs of a participatory democracy? Are the two sides even equipped to talk to each other?

Beyond Technocracy: Science, Politics and Citizens answers these questions with clarity and vision. Drawing upon a broad range of data and events from the United States and Europe, and noting the blurring of the expert/lay divide in the knowledge base, the book argues that these conflicts should not be dismissed as episodic, or the outbursts of irrationality and ignorance, but recognized as a critical opportunity to discuss the future in which we want to live. Massimiano Bucchi's analysis covers the complex realities of post-academic science as he:

• Explores the widely debated theme of science and democracy across a broad range of technological controversies.

• Overviews issues raised by the current relationship among scientists, policymakers, business interests, and the public.

• Dispels stereotypes of the detached scientific community versus the uninformed general public.

• Examines the role of the media in framing scientific debate.

• Addresses the question of how to move beyond technocracy to a more fruitful collaboration between scientists and citizens.

• Offers a bold vision for a future in which the scientific and public spheres regard each other as partners working toward a shared purpose.

Beyond Technocracy: Science, Politics and Citizens has great value as a postgraduate text for courses in technology and society, political science, and science policy. It willalso find an interested audience among scientists, policymakers, managers in the technological sector, and concerned lay readers.

Praise for Beyond Technocracy

"Bucchi provides a clear, rigorous and accessible discussion - often enriched by a subtle irony - of complex and ambiguous issues, showing that science and innovation are not neutral terrains, but rather among the key conflictual contexts in which contemporary social and political changes take place."

-Italian Review of Sociology

"In his brilliant new book, Beyond Technocracy: Science, Politics and Citizens, Massimiano Bucchi opens for the reader the Pandora's box of the complex relationship between scientists and citizens in contemporary, democratic societies...Based on a wealth of empirical evidence and case studies, the book is extremely accessible and well written, making it an ideal introduction to the issues. I would highly recommend it to specialists and non-specialists alike!"

-Professor Roberto Franzosi, Emory University

"A dense but accessible book...Bucchi acutely describes the shortcomings of the technocratic and ethical responses to the contemporary dilemmas of science and technology."

-Italian Edition of the New York Review of Books

Autorentext

Massimiano Bucchi (Ph.D. Social and Political Science, European University Institute, 1997) is Associate Professor of Sociology of Science at the University of Trento, Italy. He has published five books, including Science and the media (London and New York, Routledge, 1998) and Science in society. An Introduction to Social Studies of Science (London and New York, Routledge, 2004) and several essays in international journals such as Nature, Science, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, New Genetics and Society, and Public Understanding of Science. He is a member of the International Scientific Committee for Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST), and has served as advisor and evaluator for several research and policy bodies, including the Royal Society, US National Science Foundation and the European Commission. He has carried out research and given seminars at several international institutions, such as the Royal Society, Universität Bielefeld, ETH Zurich, London School of Economics, University of California Berkeley, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, University of Tokyo, Museu da Vida Rio de Janeiro, Austrian Academy of the Sciences and received several recognitions for his work, including the Mullins Prize awarded by the Society for Social Studies of Science (1997) and the Lelli prize for the best dissertation in sociology (1998).

Zusammenfassung

Nuclear energy, stem cell technology, GMOs: the more science advances, the more society seems to resist. But are we really watching a death struggle between opposing forces, as so many would have it? Can today's complex technical policy decisions coincide with the needs of a participatory democracy? Are the two sides even equipped to talk to each other?

Beyond Technocracy: Science, Politics and Citizens answers these questions with clarity and vision. Drawing upon a broad range of data and events from the United States and Europe, and noting the blurring of the expert/lay divide in the knowledge base, the book argues that these conflicts should not be dismissed as episodic, or the outbursts of irrationality and ignorance, but recognized as a critical opportunity to discuss the future in which we want to live. Massimiano Bucchi's analysis covers the complex realities of post-academic science as he:

• Explores the widely debated theme of science and democracy across a broad range of technological controversies.

• Overviews issues raised by the current relationship among scientists, policymakers, business interests, and the public.

• Dispels stereotypes of the detached scientific community versus the uninformed general public.

• Examines the role of the media in framing scientific debate.

• Addresses the question of how to move beyond technocracy to a more fruitful collaboration between scientists and citizens.

• Offers a bold vision for a future in which the scientific and public spheres regard each other as partners working toward a shared purpose.

Beyond Technocracy: Science, Politics and Citizens has great value as a postgraduate text for courses in technology and society, political science, and science policy. It will also find an interested audienceamong scientists, policymakers, managers in the technological sector, and concerned lay readers.

Inhalt

Introduction
Science-Society as a 'Clash of Civilizations?'

The introduction briefly sets the background of the book. Increasing conflicts regarding science and technology issues cannot be dismissed as a sort of 'clash of civilizations' between a science striving to advance and a society resisting to it. Such conflicts are indeed a dramatic symptom but of a different, and perhaps more profound, challenge: how to face the increasing number of issues on matters involving science and technology with the needs of democratic participation?

Chapter One
The Technocratic Response: All Power to the Experts (with the Blessing of Well-Educated Citizens)

The shaking pillars of the traditional, technocracy response to the challenges of technoscience (delegating decision to the experts, with the blessing of citizens appropriately 'educated' through multiplying communicative efforts to promote science) are highlighted in this chapter. Common stereotypes e.g. scientific illiteracy on the part of the public being largely responsible for the decisional impasse on science related matters are challenged on the basis of international empirical data and practical cases. Delegating decisions to the experts appears no longer viable due to factors like the declining perception of expertise as neutral and the experts as a homogeneous and consistent community; the role of the media in scrutinizing expert sources and policy decisions; emerging demands to be involved in such decisions on the part of citizens. …