Paradise Lost? ''Science'' and ''the Public'' after Asilomar

Bibliographic Data

ID5336987
AuthorsPriska Gisler (0000-0002-9812-4014, Collegium Helveticum, ETH/University of Zurich, Switzerland, Berne University of the Arts, Switzerland,, corresponding author), Monika Kurath (0000-0002-9643-4289, Collegium Helveticum, ETH/University of Zurich, Switzerland, Berne University of the Arts, Switzerland)
Year2011
Volume36
Issue2
Pages213-243
Publication date2011-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0162243910366153
OpenAlexW2106305286
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited36

Scientists continually face public concerns over the potential risks of biotechnology. This article reflects on the 1970s when leading molecular biologists established a moratorium, and initiated the second international Asilomar conference, on recombinant DNA (rDNA) molecules. Since then, this event has been widely perceived as an important historical moment when scientific actors took into account public concerns. Yet, by focusing on the history of the Public Understanding of Science (PUS) discourse, we gain new insight into how ''science'' and the ''public'' have in the meantime been framed in political discourses as homogeneous but antagonistic concepts. This sheds new light on the ways scientific, political, and administrative actors in biotechnology perceive the events, which occurred in the 1970s. Through interviews, we found that, with the Asilomar II conference serving as a quasi role model, the quest to reconcile ''science'' and the ''public'' is being traced back to a moment in history when such divisions had yet to be considered. This leads us to ask whether the politics of PUS contributed as much to the production of these two entities as it is claimed to have done in bridging the differences between them

Environmental ethics · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Law · Science Education and Perceptions

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