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The Social Study of Technology: * the Case for Public Perception and Biotechnology

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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Digital.CSIC Instituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados Working Paper 93-06 THE SOCIAL STUDY OF TECHNOLOGY: * THE CASE FOR PUBLIC PERCEPTION AND BIOTECHNOLOGY José Luis Luján and Luis Moreno Instituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados (CSIC, Madrid) Abstract Studies concerned with the development of technologies have lately undergone a great impulse. Many of them have been approached from diverse academic perspectives with long-standing traditions and a great number of them have also benefited from the assumption of new conceptual perspectives. In this respect, history, sociology, and philosophy of technology constitute paradigmatic examples. An analysis of the evolution of these various academic paradigms in recent years is carried out, although succinctly, in the first part of this Working Paper. The second part of the Working Paper deals with the issue of social research on public perception with the particular case of the development of biotechnology. Research on the public perception of technologies is a useful tool of a prospective and pre-formative nature which plays an important role as a via media between descriptive analyses (sociology and economy of technical change) and value-oriented studies (technology assessment and science and technology policy analysis). In recent times, the citizens have registered a growing concern over the regulation, management and elaboration of technological policies. This development demands a comprehensive knowledge of the interaction between society and technology. Studies on public perception are highly important not only for the analysis and interpretation of future scenarios in the development of technologies, but also for the task of identifying the kind of public policies required to avoid unwanted effects and for the orientation of technological advancement towards ends considered as beneficial by society as a whole. Introduction Studies on the public perception of technologies derive from social analyses and opinion research of a wider scope. In advanced Western democracies this type of social inquiries are carried out for purposes which range from, say, assessing the commercial interest of a new product to identifying social expectations with relation to political change. Social indicators have gained special relevance as tools for research interpretation and their use has greatly expanded in recent times. This is reflected in the proliferation of private companies and public agencies engaged in this type of opinion research and marketing (1). Given this context, it is useful to * This Working Paper has been prepared for presentation at the International Conference on Technology and Ecology (VII Biennial of the Society for Philosophy and Technology) held at the Centro de Estudios de Peñíscola (Castellón, Spain), May 21-23, 1993. 1. On the issue concerned with the use of social indicators in the process of technology management, see the critical work by Wynne (1975). 2 identify the reasons behind the growing concern shown by public, private bodies and NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) with respect to the design, development and eventual implementation of technologies. As happened with other related issues, the 1960s represented a turning point for social research concerned with the development of technologies. It was precisely in those years when public opinion in the industrially advanced democracies became aware of the importance of the citizens' role in the process of shaping technological innovation: design, assessment, implementation and evaluation (Cutcliffe, 1989; Brown, 1989; Winner, 1986). Debates on nuclear energy and environment decay, as well as issues related to the implementation of technologies which fell outside democratic control, came to the forefront of public concern. At present, the need for the institutions to undertake studies on public perception in order to legitimate the use of new technologies is beyond any contention. In 1972, the OTA (Office of Technology Assessment) was established in the USA and was commissioned to study, among other priorities, the public perception of technologies. This institutional initiative was followed by other practices related to the assessment, management, and policy analysis of technologies in the USA and other Western countries. New Parliamentary Offices and Committees on Ethics were created to this end. A special mention should be made of genetic engineering and the new technologies of assisted human reproduction. These are technologies of important social effects due to their direct implications for citizens' expectations and vital beliefs. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the OTA, the European Parliament, the European Commission and other national legislatures have commissioned a great number of social surveys with relation to the public perception of technologies (2). The main aim pursued by this type of social research is the analysis of the different opinions expressed by the general public and their understanding of technology development. Data provided by these social studies are essential inputs to incorporate in the subsequent processes of legislation and regulation of technologies. Studies concerned with the development of technologies have lately undergone a great impulse. Many of them have been approached from diverse academic perspectives with long-standing traditions and a great number of them have also benefited from the assumption of new conceptual approaches. In this respect, history, sociology, and philosophy of technology constitute paradigmatic examples. Research related to technology assessment, science and development policies, and to the economy of technological change has also expanded the academic interest in these issues since WWII. Within this ensemble composed of studies formulated from diverse disciplinary orientations we can observe, however, a main division between those of a descriptive nature and those which are value-oriented and more inclined to prospect considerations (Luján, 1992). The main thesis expressed in this Working Paper is that studies on public perception of technologies constitute a useful link between both descriptive and prospective research lines. As a first step, it is therefore necessary to analyse the evolution of these various academic paradigms in recent years. This we carry out, although succinctly, in the first part of this paper. The second part is devoted to a reviewing of the case of public perception on biotechnology. 2. Cf., Cantley (1987), OTA (1987), Eurobarometer 35.1, Durant (1992), and Moreno, Lemkow & Lizón (1992). 3 I. The social study of technology. 'Traditional' approaches. Quite a number of premises and findings are common to the 'traditional approaches' assumed by the sociology and economy of technology and the assessment of technology as first formulated by the OTA. Although socio-economic studies of technology have dealt with a diversity of issues and questions, a general and latent perspective can be traced in all of them. Broadly regarded, technology is conceptualised as an autonomous activity which produces a social impact. A set of main tasks undertaken by sociologists and economists has been precisely that related to the observation, measurement and interpretation of the impact of technology development. Traditionally, a majority of the economic and sociological studies have tended to assume that society is related to technological products but not with the process of technology construction, something which rests solely upon the dynamics of human knowledge. According to this view, society is mainly considered as an aggregate of consumers whose ideas and decisions are moulded by the effects produced by those technologies available in the market. This aspect of technological change has traditionally been at the centre of the main interests of social scientists. Neo-classical economy was rooted in several premises: consumers' rationality, maximization of profit, self-balancing and 'perfect equilibrium' of industrial relations, open market and complete information (Bijker, 1993). From this perspective, technological change is regarded as a result of the maximizing behaviour of industrialists and firms favouring 'cheaper' techniques per unit of production (e.g. by reducing workforce or using less costly raw materials). For Marxist theory, technological change depends also on decisions taken by employers in the light of the socio- economic impacts involved. According to this view, it is not so much profit maximization that is at stake as the maintenance of a position of dominance in the process of the class struggle (i.e. the criteria is, thus, related to social power in its broader sense and on a long term basis) (Elster, 1983; Mackenzie, 1984). The primary consideration of impacts in the social analysis of technology is also evident in the early projects related to technology assessment -it becomes apparent in the description of its operational procedure. According to Jones (1971), this procedure for technology assessment is committed to the following tasks: (i) Defining the scope of the assessment. (ii) Describing the relevant technological aspects which imply an identification of the most probable future developments. (iii) Studying the non-technological elements which would intervene in the technology development. (iv) Identifying the areas of impact (social, economic, political, institutional, technological, legal, environmental). (v)
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