Scientific Citizenship: The Role of Science Communication in Democracy

Abstract

Science communication, we have argued, is not only about how scientific knowledge travels between individuals and groups (science and society, scientists and laypeople, experts and audiences). It is also about organisations, identities, spaces, emotions, careers, futures, and many other aspects of the cultures we live in. Science communication is therefore not something that should be studied as a primarily personal or individual process, but as involving collectives. In this chapter, we take this idea to its logical conclusion and think about science communication in the context of states and their citizens. How does public communication of scientific knowledge relate to scientific citizenship?