History and Past Activities
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History and Past Activities |
ESA Conference: Ageing Societies, New Sociology
September 23-26, 2003 in Murcia, Spain
Two streams of sessions of the
Research Network 18: Sociology of Science and Technology (SSTNET)
Convenors:
Raymund Werle: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Köln, Germany (werle@mpi-fg-koeln.mpg.de)
Marja Häyrinen Alestalo: Dept. of Sociology, University of Helsinki, Finland (marja.alestalo@helsinki.fi)
Luísa Oliveira: DINÂMIA/ISCTE, Lisboa, Portugal (luisa.oliveira@iscte.pt)
Maarten Mentzel: 38 Johan de Wittstraat, 2334 AR Leiden, The Netherlands (m.a.mentzel@planet.nl)
First Stream: Governing Science and Technology in the Era of Globalization
Wednesday Sept. 24
17.00 - 18.30 session 4 (Campus de La Merced)
Chair: Raymund Werle
4.2. Author(s): Grundmann, Reiner/ Stehr, Nico
Institution: Aston University, Business School
Professional Category: Senior Lecturer
City: Birmingham
Country: United Kingdom
E-mail: R.Grundmann@aston.ac.uk
Politics of Knowledge for Knowledge Societies
In this paper we introduce the notions of knowledge policy and the politics of knowledge. These have to be distinguished from the older, well-known terms of research policy, or science and technology policy. While the latter aim at fostering the development of innovations in knowledge and its applications, the former is aware of side effects of new knowledge and tries to address them. While research policy takes the aims of innovations as largely unproblematic (insofar as they help improving national competitiveness), knowledge policy tries to govern (regulate, control, restrict, or even forbid) the production of knowledge.
Our discussion of the knowledge and social control in democratic societies has to be seen against the background of profound transformations that characterize modern societies. A growing number of social scientists and, in their trail, politicians, managers, and journalists claim that contemporary Western societies may be characterized as knowledge societies. Not only the expansion of the service sector is increasingly knowledge based but so is production in the agricultural and the industrial sector. Knowledge is a wealth creating power. Second, knowledge itself is growing at an increasing pace and is transformed in the process. With it come growing concerns about the impact of knowledge. It is our contention that these issues cannot be adequately understood within the existing conceptual frameworks of 'research policy', 'public understanding of science' or 'risk assessment/management'. If we speak about knowledge societies, we cannot remain silent about knowledge politics.
Sociology of Science and Technology NETwork - last update: April 2006