The Political Perspective on the Relations between Science, Technology and Society: Towards the Construction of Co-responsibility

Abstract

One of the topics that has been investigated in the field of relations between science, technology and society is that of their interactions with politics. These go beyond the relations between scientists and governments, to which their analysis is frequently reduced, especially when they are perceived from the scientists themselves. From the field of social studies of science and technology, the consideration of sociopolitics is relevant to understand different processes: how the perspectives of the world that researchers have influence their knowledge generation processes; the different values ​​that influence their profiles as academics; the relationships within the communities themselves as part of the practice of these activities; as well as the relationships between practitioners of science and actors belonging to different sectors of society. This network of social relations -where values, preferences and political positions mediate- reveal the complexity in which the generation and application of scientific and technological knowledge is embedded in our societies. These are complex phenomena to characterize and investigate, and they have posed numerous theoretical and methodological challenges for specialists in this field.