“公众理解科学”之嬗变：从“素养”到“社会之科学”

"公众理解科学"一词涉及科学与社会的关系,有两个方面的含义.一方面是指有公众参与的各种各样的科普活动.其表现往往带有社会行为的特征,有主导人物、资源和不断扩大的活动储备.另一方面是指一个不断发展的经验性社会研究领域.本文重在论述后者的演变,它分为3个阶段,即科学素养(迄于20世纪80年代)、公众理解科学(20世纪80年代到90年代)和科学与社会(20世纪90年代后).这里称谓的变化不容忽视.各阶段的陈述均包含针对科学与社会之关系的症结所做出的专门判断,特别要研究的问题以及优先考虑的介入策略;同时可以看出,各阶段之更替在修辞上表现出的是一种"进步".比较此3个"范式"之后,作者不禁发问此领域中的研究工作真的有什么进步吗?

The Vicissitudes of 'Public Understanding of Science': from 'Literacy' to 'Science in Society'

The term' public understanding of science (PUS) ' considers the relationship of science and society with a double focus. On the one hand it refers to a variety of activities that engage the public with science. This takes at times the character of a social movement, involving actors, resources, and a growing repertoire of activities. It is on the other hand a growing field of empirical social research. This paper will trace developments in the latter through three phases, which are associated with a change in language: from science literacy until the 1980s, to public understanding of science from the 1980s into the 1990s, and science and society since the 1990s. Naming matters here. Each period is associated with a particular diagnosis of the problems in the relationship between science and society, particular research questions and preferred intervention strategies,and each period displays a rhetoric of 'progress' over the previous one.Comparing the three 'paradigms',I will ask the question:is there any progress in this field of research?