The Cultural Authority of Science: Comparing Across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas

摘要

Nearly a decade ago, I published a paper in this journal on the cultural authority of science that sparked a rediscovery of a research programme long in abeyance, tracing back to Robert Merton and his student and my mentor Thomas Gieryn. In the landmark work, The Cultural Authority of Science: Comparing Across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, this idea is developed and expanded to span the globe. It is difficult to overstate the prescience of this book. In short, this is essential reading for anyone studying science communication, public perceptions of science and cultural authority more broadly. Few issues express its imperativeness like climate change. Currently, the brilliant rainforest green of the Amazon has given way to ash and embers; there is a new landscape of brown tree stumps and grey smoke evocative of the First World War. The grave and accelerating effects of climate change also echo the daily futility likely experienced in 1916. At present, world leaders perennially fail, hardening cynicism about our capacity for self-governance, reason and knowledge. Moreover, growing polarization around climate science (and science generally) makes building the political coalitions necessary to meet this challenge seem impossible. Many global citizens are either unable to recognize the scale and scope of the crisis or resigned to fate.