Science, Technology and Democracy: Perspectives About the Complex Relation Between the Scientific Community, the Scientific Journalist and Public Opinion

Abstract

Scientific‐technological innovation (particularly in the field of transgenic foods and cloning), scientific journalism and public opinion all share a complex relationship. The rupture of internal consensus among the scientific community, the role played by scientific journalists as “mediators” and the differentiation between what can be referred to as the “informed public” or “epistemological leaders” and the rest of the population were the starting point for our research on the impact of news related to biotechnological advances. In this paper we will show the principal characteristics of the discourse on this type of news among what we can call the “informed public”. From there, we will establish a set of strategies for improving the level of scientific‐technological alphabetisation in our complex societies.

Keywords:

• Science Communication
• Informed Public
• Spanish Public Opinion

Acknowledgements

This study was made possible thanks to the financing of the R & D National Plan for the BIO 2000–0167‐P4–03 Project entitled “Biodif. An Investigation of the Process of Disseminating Information on Biotechnology in Spain: A Methodological Approach to Evaluating its Impact”.

Notes

[1] Using two discussion groups, with informed public being understood as the public that is interested in and informed about science, newspaper readers, young people (18–29 years of age) and adults (30–49 years of age) carried out in Madrid in November 2004.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Antonio López Peláez

Antonio López Peláez is Associated Professor in the Faculty of Sociology and Political Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain. His most recent books are Nuevas Tecnologías y Sociedad Actual: el impacto de la Robótica (Madrid: Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales 2003) and (edited with Tomás Fernández) Trabajo Social con Grupos (Madrid: Alianza Editorial 2006).

José Antonio Díaz

José Antonio Díaz is Associated Professor in the Faculty of Sociology and Political Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain. His most recent books are (edited with José Félix Tezanos and José Manuel Montero) Tendencias de futuro en la sociedad española (Madrid: Sistema 1998).