Rethinking Science Culture and Governance Today

Abstract

The paper discusses the four goals of scientific culture or public understanding of science (PUS) and these are: transmitting the values and skills on which our modernity has been built; preserving the nation’s competitive edge; grasping the developments in contemporary science as a part of culture; and enabling everyone to play a full part in current debates. These goals form firm basis and provide platform for discourse of all the actors of public understanding of science. One has to understand various factors associated with these goals and these are discussed as necessity of promoting PUS to preserve the ability to innovate, controlling mechanism, PUS management and PUS governance, etc. The article argues that PUS today is forcing us to think of different processes and objects in constant interaction with each other. Further, the communicators and researchers need to remain mindful of public aspirations and in particular of the sturdy demand for a strong link between attitudes to science and democratic functioning.