Alternative Pathways in Science and Industry: Activism, Innovation, and the Environment in an Era of Globalizaztion
Abstract
In Alternative Pathways in Science and Industry, David Hess examines how social movements and other forms of activism affect innovation in science, technology, and industry. Synthesizing and extending work in social studies of science and technology, social movements, and globalization, Hess explores the interaction of grassroots environmental action and mainstream industry and offers a conceptual framework for understanding it. Hess proposes a theory of scientific and technological change that considers the roles that both industry and grassroots consumers play in setting the research agenda in science and technology, and he identifies "alternative pathways" by which social movements can influence scientific and technological innovation. He analyzes four of these pathways: industrial opposition movements, organized against targeted technologies (as in the campaign against nuclear energy); technology- and product-oriented movements, which press for alternatives (as does the organic food movement); localism, which promotes local ownership (as in "buy-local" campaigns); and access pathways, which support a more equitable distribution of resources. Within each pathway, Hess examines reforms in five different areas: agriculture, energy, waste and manufacturing, infrastructure, and finance. The book's theoretical argument and empirical evidence demonstrate the complex pattern of incorporation (of grassroots innovations) and transformation (of alternative ownership structures and the alternative products themselves) that has characterized the relationship of industry and activism. Hess's analysis of alternative pathways to change suggests ways economic organizations could shift to a more just and sustainable course in the twenty-first century.
... Las problemáticas y desafíos mencionadas dejan al descubierto la falta de investigación y desarrollo de grandes empresas e institutos públicos de I+D en aspectos relacionados con los modelos de desarrollo de la agricultura familiar, lo cual podría considerarse un ejemplo de la "ciencia no hecha". La ciencia no hecha (Hess, 2007) se pregunta acerca de los límites en la búsqueda del conocimiento y sus causas. En general, el déficit se detecta cuando aparecen grupos sociales exigiendo el estudio de algún tema que les serviría para poder fundamentar distintos reclamos. ...
... Al mismo tiempo, existe una dispersión y desarticulación de conocimientos tecnocientíficos en la formulación, validación, ejecución y evaluación de los procesos de desarrollo tecnológico. Hess (2007) examina cómo los movimientos sociales y otras formas de activismo afectan la innovación en ciencia, tecnología e industria; e identifica vías alternativas por las cuales los movimientos sociales pueden influir en la innovación científica y tecnológica. La evidencia empírica demuestra el complejo patrón de incorporación (de innovaciones de base) y transformación (de estructuras de propiedad y los productos alternativos). ...
... Es decir, tratan de redes heterogéneas de activistas, científicos, ingenieros y ONGs que buscan experimentar con formas alternativas de producción de conocimiento y procesos de innovación en la creación de soluciones tecnológicas orientadas hacia el desarrollo local . También se define como la experimentación con el cambio tecnológico que involucra a movimientos sociales en apoyo de un cambio social más amplio (Hess, 2007). Los movimientos de innovación de base representan experimentos sociales de tecnologías innovadoras, valores e instituciones (Haxeltine y Seyfang, 2009). ...
La agricultura familiar es el principal modo de producción agrícola del planeta. En el mundo existen unos 1.500 millones de campesinos, minifundistas y pequeños productores. Sin embargo, ocupan sólo el 20 por ciento de las tierras disponibles. A pesar de habitar el territorio en pocas hectáreas, producen el 56 por ciento de los alimentos que se consumen en el planeta. La agricultura convencional y el agronegocio, como vías de innovación dominante, presentan desafíos e incompatibilidades con el contexto de los agricultores familiares: tienen gran impacto en el entorno natural, provocan degradación ambiental, concentra la producción y desplaza a las poblaciones rurales. Muchas innovaciones han eliminado a los agricultores del proceso creativo al desarrollar artefactos que supuestamente acomodan su actividad, ignorando en gran medida sus aportes y deseos empíricos. Algunos, abandonaron sus modelos tradicionales y adoptaron tecnología exógena pero han sufrido grandes cambios y fracasos en sus esquemas productivos. La innovación convencional no ha logrado desarrollar soluciones consistentes específicas para la agricultura familiar. En vista de estos problemas, ¿qué sucede cuando se aplican modelos abiertos y participativos en el diseño de tecnologías, máquinas y artefactos? La investigación tiene como objetivo determinar de qué manera se implementa el diseño abierto y qué beneficios presenta. El propósito del estudio es analizar cómo se produce el proceso de apertura en proyectos participativos de desarrollo e implementación de tecnologías abiertas en el ámbito de la agricultura familiar a nivel nacional. Para ello, luego de realizar un mapeo de casos existentes de desarrollo tecnológico participativo de artefactos internacional, se analizan cuatro proyectos de desarrollo tecnológico en el ámbito nacional donde participan diseñadores, fabricantes, investigadores y familias productoras. ¿De qué modo se generan e implementan las tecnologías abiertas?, ¿cómo es la participación en el proceso?, ¿qué aprendizajes, conocimientos y desafíos se producen al implementar los modelos abiertos?, ¿qué potencialidades y limitaciones tiene este modelo de desarrollo? El análisis permitió formular y describir modalidades de diseño abierto y participativo que respondan a experiencias implementadas en la actualidad contribuyendo a identificar estrategias de apertura y participación adecuadas. La investigación presenta como idea rectora que los procesos de desarrollo tecnológico abiertos reportan beneficios en la resolución de problemáticas debido a que solucionan problemas complejos con pocos recursos y bajo costo, utilizan la inteligencia colectiva de involucrados, aceleran el ciclo de innovación en relación a los modelos de innovación convencionales y brindan la posibilidad de generar diseños adaptables a diversos contextos. Sin embargo, a pesar de estas potencialidades, también existen dificultades, impedimentos y limitaciones. ¿Cuáles son?, ¿cómo lidian los participantes con ellas? El análisis generado permite pensar a las tecnologías abiertas y los procesos participativos como un modelo alternativo de innovación en vista de los desafíos de la agricultura, donde la disciplina del diseño tiene un rol estratégico y esencial en este tipo de procesos.
... Under this logic, context becomes a transformative space that addresses (different) future scenarios and historical conditions, creating a "community of practice" (Knorr Cetina, 1981;Regeer and Bunders, 2009;Wenger, 1998Wenger, , 2010. This results in an opportunity not only to co-produce knowledge (Hirsch Hadorn et al., 2006;Pohl and Hirsch Hadorn, 2007;Polk, 2015) but also to strengthen its potential to transform, re-appropriate and enhance artistic creations, imagery, oral traditions, multi-sensorial components and subjectivities (Hess, 2007(Hess, , 2008Santos et al., 2009;Tapia, 2016;Vessuri, 2002). ...
... The second dimension, actors, implies the re-definition of the role of scientific and societal actors (Hess, 2007(Hess, , 2011Jasanoff, 2004;Nowotny et al., 2001;Regeer and Bunders, 2009). From a feminist epistemology, it is essential to observe the relationship between the person who knows and what is known (Harding, 1996(Harding, , 2010Longino, 1993Longino, , 1997. ...
... -Roles of societal actors who "enact" the problem (Hess, 2007). ...
Several environmental, political, social and institutional factors have resulted in the heterogeneous and adaptive integration of knowledge, actors and methodologies in Latin America. Despite poor recognition and even a lack of research conditions, experiences involving different societal actors and types of collaboration have developed across the region. These experiences form a collection of integration and implementation processes not yet fully systematised in a way that serves other cases. This paper aims to contribute to the discussion of how expertise is defined in integration and implementation processes in Latin America. To re-signify collaborative practices in the region, a critical perspective is applied, and a heuristic framework is built that comprehends the ‘situated’ and relational dimensions of expertise. This framework is tested to study five cases from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay related to territorial planning, gender and knowledge, coastal management and the provision of climate services. These concepts are compared on the basis of the three dimensions comprising the framework—context, actors and methods —and the intersections among them. Applying a qualitative methodology and auto-ethnography, we identified the main features of situated expertise in Latin America, that is, engaging marginalised societal actors, fostering greater participation, acknowledging power imbalances, managing conflicts and contradicting perspectives, and directing an ethical-political engagement in the research process. As a result, situated expertise encompasses not only the situatedness of practices and processes, but also their political (and potentially transformative) dimensions in tracing power imbalances. This paper then argues that this situated aspect of expertise is relevant for conducting more context-sensitive integration and implementation processes in Latin America, thus contributing to the ethical-political dimension on how expertise is defined, embodied and enacted in vulnerable contexts.
... Agnotology is concerned with the diversity of forms and states of ignorancewhether unconscious or intentional, passive or active -produced and sustained by an interweaving of epistemic framings, practical research contingencies, histories, spatialities and political and cultural contexts. Agnotology illustrates the cumulative effects of the multiple selectivities of research, revealing untrodden paths in various scientific fields (Hess, 2007). ...
... Conversely, it often looks at social activism as a powerful revealer of scientific blind spots. According to Hess (2007), social movements, industry reformers and civil society organizations, such as patient groups and other mobilized publics, are instrumental in exposing ignorance in areas that should be investigated in the name of the general interest, the environment or public health. This observation cannot readily be transposed to urban ecology. ...
Promoters of urban ecology commonly point to the historical absence of the city in ecology. This assertion is obviously meant to highlight the novelty and timeliness of urban ecology and to plead for its development. Given the founding role of this ignorance narrative for urban ecology, we deemed it essential to explore whether and how it could be empirically substantiated. Drawing on ignorance studies, we propose to investigate knowledge blind spots and questions left uncharted by the dominant research agendas in ecology. Stepping aside from the shared assumptions within the urban ecology community, we set up to explore the main features of a regime of (im)perceptibility of the city in ecology. To this end, and using a mix of methods including bibliometric and textual data analyses, observations and interviews, we combined the exploration of global scientific publications, naturalist inventories in Swiss research institutions and cities and everyday ecological research practices in Switzerland. Our analysis leads to nuancing the binary representation of the city as either absent or present in ecological research. It highlights three dimensions (epistemic framings, field practices and institutional marginality) that may explain the imperceptibility of the city in ecological research. We demonstrate the existence of ecological research in the city before and alongside self-declared ‘urban ecology’. Ignorance studies generally aim to expose biased historiographies and address the politics of contentious knowledge. We hypothesize and show that this analytical framing can also shed light on the obfuscation of past and rival research in the formation and consolidation of epistemic communities.
... The analysis of the factors shaping research priorities can help in reflecting how science policy interventions could balance and diversify research portfolios. We will do this exploration through a number of lenses drawing on framings from political economy and political sociology (Bambra et al. 2005;Hess 2007;Moore et al. 2011), linking them to the specific influences to individual researchers (Glä ser 2019). This means attending to factors such as institutional logics, sources and processes of funding, and evaluation. ...
... For example, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has placed conditions on grant proposals in line with the doctrine of producing marketable research outputs. 7 It has long been recognised that industry is much more likely to support and develop knowledge and innovations that can subsequently be marketised and that this preference influences research agendas (Hess 2007). Given that knowledge or interventions on social determinants of health, prevention, and health-care systems are usually difficult to protect via intellectual property rights, they are unlikely to be developed by industry and also less likely to receive support from the centres in universities that follow the commercialisation logic. ...
A current issue in mission-oriented research policy is the balance of priorities in research portfolios. In parallel, in health policies, there is a debate on shifting research away from biomedical treatments towards health promotion and well-being. In this study, we examine if research agendas are responsive to these demands in cardiometabolic and mental health. First, we conducted bibliometric analyses which showed that most research remains focused on biomedical and clinical approaches. In contrast, focus groups and interviews suggested that more research is needed upstream, i.e. on broader determinants of health, public health, and health systems. Most experts also saw a need for more intervention-oriented research. Furthermore, comparisons between cardiometabolic and mental health suggested that they require similar upstream knowledge in issues such as health systems, nutrition, labour, or economic conditions. We discuss the reasons for the persistence of current priorities and the implications in the context of funding strategies.
... That is, scientific approaches that question how, by whom, and for what purpose the knowledge they produce is used. Some examples are post-normal science (Funtowicz & Ravetz, 1993), undone science (Hess, 2007), and the critical strands of citizen science (Irwin, 1995). In recent years, these approaches have gained popularity among the scientific community interested in addressing wicked problems (Kønig et al., 2017), including the functioning and impacts of the CFR (Arancibia & Motta, 2019;Kimura & Kinchy, 2016). ...
... Undone science has its origins in the field of environmental ecotoxicology (Frickel, 2004), but its theoretical foundations have been laid in the field of the sociology of knowledge (Hess, 2007). This approach analyzes the social production of knowledge-and ignorance-as a phenomenon shaped by an unequal distribution of power. ...
The current corporate food regime generates some of the most challenging ecological, social, and ethical problems for humanity in its quest for sustainability and ecological justice. Different scientific disciplines have analyzed these problems in-depth, but usually from their comfort zone, i.e., without engagement with other disciplines and epistemologies. The predominance of disciplinary visions seriously limits, however, understanding the complexities of the corporate food regime, including the impacts it generates. Further, most research concerned with this food regime confronts epistemological, methodological, and political limitations to engage with the type of solutions that could lead to transitions to just sustainabilities. Here we review and integrate the findings from scientific literature focused on the ecological, social, or ethical impacts of the corporate food regime, with an emphasis on impacts that operate on a global scale. In addition, we analyze the need for critical science approaches to trigger generative processes for the co-production of uncomfortable, transdisciplinary, actionable knowledges that are fit for designing just and sustainable food regimes. Much of the evidence presented in our analysis is in tension with the interests of the corporate food regime, which fosters decision-making processes based on selective ignorance of the impacts caused by this regime. Our work provides arguments that justify the need to promote transitions to just sustainabilities in agricultural systems from multiple domains (e.g., research and development, public policies, grassroots innovations). We posit that strategies to co-design and build such transitions can emerge from the co-production of uncomfortable, transdisciplinary, actionable knowledges through critical science approaches.
... Practical grassroots innovations committed to values of social justice or environmentally sustainable developments have existed for decades and caught the attention of researchers (see for example Schumacher 1973;Hess 2009;Smith 2005). The GIM framework that is guiding us during our work in this project is inspired by such previous work. ...
... Firstly, to analyze how GIM co-create alternative visions and practices of development, GIM uses insights of social movement literature on the mobilization of resources and political strategies for example. In addition, it draws analytical approaches from science and technology studies (STS) to direct the analytical gaze on the collective action frames for alternative science, (see Hess 2009) and from innovation studies to focus on concepts about knowledge creation, (see, e.g. decolonial scholars such as Escobar 2004), and technological innovation leading to alternative types of technological change. ...
This paper introduces the Critical Making Responsibility Framework. The framework has been developed by the Critical Making consortium in order to analyze responsible innovation processes in grassroots innovation, specifically in the practice of making. The paper builds on a literature review to highlight the shortcomings of current Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) frameworks’ relevance towards grassroots innovation practices, and conversely, the lack of scientific understanding on ethics and responsibility in making. To fill the gap, this paper proposes a combination of the dimensions of the Grassroots Innovation Movements (GIM) analytical framework and the RRI capacity dimensions. Finally, the outlook reflects upon how the framework will be utilized in hands-on ways to support the work of academic and non-academic co-researchers of reflexive maker practices.
... Ces auteurs mettent en avant que, dans de nombreux cas, des problèmes mis en avant par des « publics mobilisés » sont délaissés malgré des appels réguliers à les étudier. Ces auteurs, sous l'impulsion de Hess (2007) se sont particulièrement penchés sur l'absence de savoirs qui auraient pu être utiles à des mouvements sociaux et des organisations de la société civile pour disposer des ressources nécessaires pour confronter des politiques soutenues par des industriels et des élites politiques qui portent atteinte à la santé publique et à l'environnement. Ils montrent que l'undone science peut avoir diverses origines, allant du fonctionnement des sciences elles-mêmes (avec ses hiérarchies, ses centres d'intérêt du moment, ses compétitions, ses propres dynamiques de production de connaissances), aux actions de lobbying de certains acteurs suffisamment puissants (industries, mouvements sociaux, groupes politiques) et ceci malgré les tentatives alternatives de production de savoirs (Frickel & Vincent, 2007 ;Hess, 2007 ;Kleinman & Suryanarayanan, 2013). ...
... Ces auteurs, sous l'impulsion de Hess (2007) se sont particulièrement penchés sur l'absence de savoirs qui auraient pu être utiles à des mouvements sociaux et des organisations de la société civile pour disposer des ressources nécessaires pour confronter des politiques soutenues par des industriels et des élites politiques qui portent atteinte à la santé publique et à l'environnement. Ils montrent que l'undone science peut avoir diverses origines, allant du fonctionnement des sciences elles-mêmes (avec ses hiérarchies, ses centres d'intérêt du moment, ses compétitions, ses propres dynamiques de production de connaissances), aux actions de lobbying de certains acteurs suffisamment puissants (industries, mouvements sociaux, groupes politiques) et ceci malgré les tentatives alternatives de production de savoirs (Frickel & Vincent, 2007 ;Hess, 2007 ;Kleinman & Suryanarayanan, 2013). ...
L’ignorance est depuis plus d’une vingtaine d’années une thématique de recherche en vogue aussi bien en sociologie, en philosophie, en histoire ou en anthropologie, donnant lieu à une littérature foisonnante. Cet article propose de reconsidérer de manière critique les apports et les limites des études de l’ignorance. Il cherche à rendre compte de ce que les travaux réalisés, en particulier ceux produits dans le cadre de l’agnotologie, de la nouvelle sociologie politique des sciences et de l’étude de l’ignorance stratégique, ont permis faire émerger. Il montre comment ces travaux, autant qu'ils ont renouvelé les questions investies, ont également réduits et laissé dans l'ombre plusieurs aspects. Sur cette base, il propose de dépasser certaines de ces limites en approfondissant les pistes déjà ouvertes par les Ignorances Studies en élargissant la focale pour renouveler et élargir les études de l’ignorance dans leur diversité, en travaillant à clarifier les dynamiques complexes qui lient ignorances, savoirs, et incertitudes dans différentes configurations.
... Given this complexity and uncertainty, one main challenge in social struggles regarding pesticide contamination is the problem of 'undone science': an area of deficient or non-produced knowledge identified by civil society as worthy of more research to advance their goals (Frickel et al. 2009;Hess 2007). For instance, the embodied experience of harm is frequently disregarded when demanding political action because of poor evidence to prove causalities of pesticide's toxicity and their health consequences (Arancibia and Motta 2018;Jouzel and Prete 2014;Monge 2018). ...
... 3.1. The challenge of undone science 'Undone science' confronts the problem of ignorance and questions what remains unknown and why (Hess 2007;Frickel and Edwards 2014). Precisely, it refers to 'areas of research that are left unfunded, incomplete, or generally ignored but that social movements or civil society organisations often identify as worthy of more research' (Frickel et al. 2009, 2). ...
Victims of pesticides are often disregarded when demanding reparations and political action because of the ‘undone science.’ Studies have examined how people organise to rectify the ‘undone science’, but less is known about how the ‘undone science’ permeates local organisations to direct their strategies in acknowledging some, but not others, as victims of pesticide contamination. Using the case of plantation workers’ struggle to demand redress for ailments caused by the pesticide Dibromochloropropane (DBCP) in Nicaragua, I analyse how what counts as ‘evidence’ shapes the struggle and how, in the process, women’s lived experience of harm is not prioritised.
... Many new issues with profound and wide impacts on the development of the industry have been quickly included in the content of scientific research, clear arguments for the policies and guidelines issued by the Ministry and the Government, becoming major decisions, contributing to creating a boost for the goal of sustainable growth of the industry (Dwivedi et al., 2021;Freeman, 1991). For example, research on policies on localization of industrial products starting from the 2000s, research on policies on energy saving and efficiency in the context and challenges of environmental protection and climate change response, policy research to support the negotiation process, participation in multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements (Hess, 2007;Zhang & Wen, 2008;Truffer & Coenen, 2012). Therefore, this study will recognize there are many opportunities and challenges that come from strengths and weaknesses of R7D activities that serve for economic innovation. ...
This article focuses on analyzing opportunities analysis and The Relationship between R&D and Economic Innovation in recent years. The methods include qualitative research method, synthesis and inductive methods. We also expand SWOT model by adding Value part analysis on it. This study stated opportunities for values adding including but not limit to R&D promoting for growth of industries and economy, promoting bilateral agreement, energy saving, effectiveness enhancing, and opportunities applying biology technology serving country development as well as taking advantage of young scientific researchers.
... In tal senso, l'innovazione sociale potrebbe essere definita un insieme di dinamiche e di attori che sono i motori e i promotori del cambiamento dal basso, dal margine (Hess, 2007;Geels, 2004;Seyfang e Smith, 2007;Smith et al., 2010). Da un punto di vista sociale e territoriale, si comprende come le aree ai margini -come le aree interne e rurali italiane oggetto della nostra ricerca -possano incarnare un luogo privilegiato per osservare, studiare e analizzare l'innovazione sociale: si guarda alle aree interne e rurali come a "degli acceleratori di cambiamento, un'infallibile cartina di tornasole per leggere e interpretare le trasformazioni in arrivo" (Camanni, 2017, p. 224-225), che sono essenziali per migliorare l'inclusione socio-territoriale. ...
Questo non è solo un altro libro sull’Innovazione Sociale. Riguarda certamente le pratiche e i processi che generano innovazione, ma soprattutto rappresenta il tentativo di ampliare lo sguardo sull’interconnessione di tali pratiche e processi con quegli elementi che – direttamente o indirettamente – ne possono influenzare la progettazione, l’implementazione, la diffusione e la sostenibilità nel tempo. Parliamo, quindi, di (Eco)Sistemi di Innovazione Sociale e lo facciamo partendo proprio da una riflessione critica del termine “ecosistema”.
Il volume nasce a seguito del progetto SEED: Ecosistemi di Innovazione Sociale, (sostenuto da DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion della Commissione Europea) il cui obiettivo è stato sviluppare spazi pubblici e accessibili per valorizzare le risorse europee destinate all’innovazione sociale. Nel corso del progetto, l’Università di Bologna ha contribuito a realizzare un percorso di capacity building volto a supportare la comprensione e la diffusione degli ecosistemi di innovazione sociale. Così, in linea con le riflessioni ed esperienze condivise in quella sede, il libro propone un ragionamento sulle competenze - capacità, possibilità e potenzialità, degli attori e dei territori - che risultano favorevoli allo sviluppo di ecosistemi territoriali di innovazione sociale.
La varietà di tematiche, analizzate tramite molteplici approcci teorici e tecniche di ricerca, rende il libro ricco di spunti sia per l’analisi sociologica sia per il disegno politico e l’operatività dei settori che si occupano di rispondere alle sfide sociali e generare innovazione sociale.
... In tal senso, l'innovazione sociale potrebbe essere definita un insieme di dinamiche e di attori che sono i motori e i promotori del cambiamento dal basso, dal margine (Hess, 2007;Geels, 2004;Seyfang e Smith, 2007;Smith et al., 2010). Da un punto di vista sociale e territoriale, si comprende come le aree ai margini -come le aree interne e rurali italiane oggetto della nostra ricerca -possano incarnare un luogo privilegiato per osservare, studiare e analizzare l'innovazione sociale: si guarda alle aree interne e rurali come a "degli acceleratori di cambiamento, un'infallibile cartina di tornasole per leggere e interpretare le trasformazioni in arrivo" (Camanni, 2017, p. 224-225), che sono essenziali per migliorare l'inclusione socio-territoriale. ...
Uno dei webinar del programma di capacity building del progetto SEED è stato dedicato nello specifico ai cittadini. Durante la sua preparazione, una delle persone coinvolte come contributrice ha detto: non c’è innovazione sociale senza cittadini. Ed è vero. Le pratiche che trovano poi riconoscimento come innovazione sociale sono spesso innescate dai cittadini. Ci sono vari modi per chiamare i loro iniziatori: gruppi informali, organizzazioni civiche, movimenti sociali, movimenti dal basso, e altri. All’opposto, quando una nuova pratica sociale è implementata da altri attori, più istituzionalizzati, diventa innovativa nel momento in cui risponde ai bisogni di una comunità e coinvolge la comunità stessa nella ricerca e nella produzione di una soluzione. Il risultato è che una pratica sociale per essere innovativa, deve coinvolgere i cittadini.
Ci concentriamo allora in questo capitolo sui cittadini e sul loro ruolo, partendo proprio dal concetto di cittadinanza, dal suo significato e dai suoi limiti. In questo modo, argomentiamo la nostra preferenza verso il concetto di azioni civica rispetto a quello di cittadinanza attiva. Per concludere e ragionare concretamente su un nuovo modello di azione civica, analizziamo lo studio di caso “Legami di Comunità” a Brindisi, dove un gruppo di cittadini ha dato vita a un’impresa di comunità.
... In tal senso, l'innovazione sociale potrebbe essere definita un insieme di dinamiche e di attori che sono i motori e i promotori del cambiamento dal basso, dal margine (Hess, 2007;Geels, 2004;Seyfang e Smith, 2007;Smith et al., 2010). Da un punto di vista sociale e territoriale, si comprende come le aree ai margini -come le aree interne e rurali italiane oggetto della nostra ricerca -possano incarnare un luogo privilegiato per osservare, studiare e analizzare l'innovazione sociale: si guarda alle aree interne e rurali come a "degli acceleratori di cambiamento, un'infallibile cartina di tornasole per leggere e interpretare le trasformazioni in arrivo" (Camanni, 2017, p. 224-225), che sono essenziali per migliorare l'inclusione socio-territoriale. ...
Questo capitolo riflette in particolar modo sulla comunicazione dell’IS, ovvero sulla comunicazione di una pratica sociale diversa, di rottura, che potenzialmente può portare cambiamento sociale. Riteniamo, infatti, che la diffusione delle pratiche socialmente innovative attuate da singoli attori territoriali o da reti di essi sia fondamentale per contribuire alla formazione di ecosistemi sul territorio o alla conoscenza di un dato ecosistema e dei suoi progetti sociali in altri territori.
Questo tipo di comunicazione viene solitamente fatta dagli attori che generano una pratica socialmente innovativa, per diffondere quanto realizzato alla popolazione che eventualmente può beneficiarne o ad altri attori territoriali potenzialmente interessati a prendere spunto dal processo sotteso alla pratica o a mettersi in rete. Oppure può essere fatta da attori − comunque esperti del tema, ma esterni al progetto, che quindi lo osservano, lo analizzano e ne traggono considerazioni teoriche ed empiriche per la progressione della conoscenza sul tema. Parliamo, in questo caso, dell’attività scientifica di ricerca sociale.
Partendo dal motivo per cui è importante comunicare l’IS, nelle prossime sezioni, approfondiamo le caratteristiche e il ruolo della comunicazione sociale, da un lato, e della comunicazione della scienza sociale, dall’altro. Infine, nelle conclusioni, ragioniamo sull’utilità della comunicazione dell’IS per la formazione e riproduzione degli ecosistemi territoriali.
... Meanwhile, removing and/or suppressing data in the official statistics and websites is also quite a common phenomenon. In social sciences, political ignorance is categorized as both a) 'undone science', in which the government does not conduct scientific research even when it is essential (Hess 2007;Frickel et al. 2010), and b) 'second order undone science' when data is either manipulated or omitted to ease neoliberal economic progress (Suryanarayanan and Kleinman 2014;Kleinman and Suryanarayanan 2013). While these two categories are almost always connected to state-business networks, the distorted circulation of knowledge has, in the recent past, become the most important crucible of ignorance studies (Oreskes and Conway 2010;Richter, Cordner, and Brown 2018). ...
The article explains the mechanisms of the spread of fake news and theorises the post truth moments with floating Signifiers.
... While the differentiation between scientific and Indigenous knowledge is a contested issue in the field of critical development studies (Agrawal, 1995(Agrawal, , 2002, the way it is constructed and treated is key to how bioeconomy policies are governed, disputed and re-oriented, as suggested by research on Science and Technology Studies (Hess, 2007). In Latin America, as in many parts of the Global South, bio-based systems of production have existed since pre-colonial times, including the production of fermented beverages (Vargas-Yana et al., 2020) or the use of endemic plants for nutritional and medical purposes (Wise and Negrin, 2020). ...
This article studies the notion of Sumak Kawsay as an Indigenous way of life and political project informing the normative fundament of the plurinational state of Ecuador. How does Sumak Kawsay shape the relationship between bio-based practices in Kichwa territories of Ecuador and the country’s emerging bioeconomy policy? To address this question we study the production of two culturally meaningful products with an agroforestry base in two Kichwa territories. We find that Andean and Amazonian communities draw diversely on the principles of Sumak Kawsay to enhance bio-based systems of production combining ancestral knowledges and semi-industrial technologies. The latter are grounded in harmony oriented values including economic goals, political visibility, and community-led practices. In the case of Chicha de Jora, bio-based production is linked with food sovereignty and women’s political agency. In the case of Guayusa, the export of tea relates to Indigenous peoples’ right to assert greater economic visibility in the Ecuadorian Amazon. This shows that neither modern/Western technologies and bioeconomy concepts, nor profits and markets per se, collide automatically with ancestral knowledges and bio-based practices in Indigenous territories. In the plurinational state of Ecuador, therefore, it is imperative that the country’s bioeconomy policy is guided by these principles and experiences. This implies the move from a (top-down) state-driven towards a (bottom-up) transcultural approach to bioeconomy governance within the Earth’s biophysical limits.
... Development conceptualized as expanding human wellbeing can offer a common ground for the farthest reaching people within each community (i.e., of western science and technology, and the most conventional agents of IS). Rejecting the "technology fix" approach to social and environmental problemsinnovation as a problem-may come together with analyzing yet "undone innovations" (to take up David 84 Hess's expression (Hess 2007))-that is, innovation as part of the solutions for pressing human needs, both in relation to the global South and North. ...
The fields of “science, technology, and society” and “innovation studies” may come closer together in a frugally-fruitful way by engaging—with their specific tools—in the comprehension of and action upon some innovation problems, particularly those involving inequality.
... Es importante entender que para que una tecnología nueva sea "exitosa" no sólo hace falta que realice correctamente la función para la cual fue en principio diseñada, sino que además es necesario que las relaciones de poder, los valores y las prácticas imperantes permitan que su uso se extienda. En este sentido, la dirección del cambio técnico es siempre fruto de las relaciones y estructuras sociales (Hess 2007) y no un producto de una "selección natural" de acuerdo con su eficacia o eficiencia funcional. Algunas trayectorias tecnológicas pueden ser activamente limitadas o imposibilitadas por las estructuras y relaciones de poder imperantes en la sociedad, mientras que otras son promovidas por esas mismas relaciones. ...
Resumen:
Las transiciones a la sustentabilidad son un tema actual de agenda pública y académica; ante perspectivas de agotamiento del ambiente y de creciente desigualdad social, diversas voces sostienen que no hay desarrollo posible sin cuidado ambiental y justicia social. El régimen productivo predominante en el agro, en nuestro contexto y más allá, es señalado como insustentable tanto con relación a sus efectos sobre el ambiente: contaminación de suelos, aguas y aire y aumento sostenido de la utilización de insumos químicos sintéticos; como sus efectos sociales: creciente concentración de los medios de producción, disminución del uso de mano de obra y efectos sobre la salud. En Uruguay, hay dos grandes narrativas públicas que abordan esta problemática de las transiciones a la sustentabilidad en el mundo rural y la producción de alimentos, para humanos y para animales de producción. Por un lado, la “intensificación sostenible”, promovida por la academia mainstream y el Estado, acompañada por los organismos multilaterales y productores y empresas de gran escala. Es una propuesta que vislumbra el crecimiento constante de la producción sin expandir el área de tierra y con reducción de impactos ambientales, en particular minimizando las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero por cada unidad de producto. Por otro lado, la “agroecología”, surgida de la movilización de actores académicos, sectores de la sociedad civil organizados y grupos de productores/as. Es una propuesta técnica, pero que presenta una corriente también social y “política”, que defiende la producción familiar al tiempo que procura disminuir el ingreso de insumos externos a los predios. Busca articular la justicia social con la justicia ambiental. Si bien existen diversas acepciones de la agroecología y de paradigmas que las sustentan, en general coinciden en la importancia de la pluralidad de conocimientos necesarios para su implementación, recuperando el conocimiento práctico y tácito de los productores y
productoras en procesos de co-producción de conocimiento entre pares y con los científicos.
Este capítulo analiza experiencias de transición a la sustentabilidad en lechería y agricultura de
secano en Uruguay, y discute los desafíos y oportunidades que surgen para el tránsito a prácticas
productivas más sustentables dentro del continuo entre intensificación sostenible y agroecología
política, así como barreras y limitantes que experimentan en su búsqueda de desarrollo
sustentable y un “vivir tranquilo”, socialmente inclusivo y ambientalmente relacional.
... Additionally, numerous studies have demonstrated the critical importance of engaging "lay experts" in gaining a deeper grasp of science, medicine, and technology development (Betsos et al. 2022;Campbell 2019;Epstein 1996;Hess 2007;Irwin and Wynne 1996;Wynne 1989Wynne , 1992. In environment and energy issues, including nuclear energy (Bhadra 2013), wind energy (Phadke 2013), solar energy (Mulvaney 2013), and natural gas fracking (Kinchy 2017), the literature on science and technology studies (STS) has made a substantial contribution to the discussion on public engagement in energy technologies. ...
... A investigação tem sua base empírica concebida e realizada em associação com uma ação para resolução de problemas coletivos, na qual pesquisadores e representantes daqueles que são prejudicados por tais problemas estão envolvidos (THIOLLENT, 1986). Por esse motivo, a pesquisa pode ser caracterizada como uma tentativa de "Modernização Epistêmica", uma vez que agendas, conceitos e métodos da pesquisa científica estão abertos à avaliação, influência e participação de grupos sociais que apresentam perspectivas sobre o conhecimento que podem ser diferentes daquelas dos cientistas (HESS, 2007). Assim, pratica-se o que Corburn (2005) batizou de Ciência da Rua (Street Science), um paradigma que combina descobertas locais com técnicas profissionais. ...
Neste artigo, argumentamos que o modelo de gestão ambiental baseado em inovação tecnológica e voltado para o aumento de eficiência que vem sendo adotado pelo setor siderúrgico encontra-se longe de compensar ou reverter o aumento dos impactos criados pela expansão da produção em curso. Desde o início dos anos 1990, o setor siderúrgico brasileiro vem passando por um processo de reestruturação que se manifesta atualmente na inserção no mercado global, através da expansão da capacidade de produção de bens semi-acabados para os mercados da Europa e dos EUA. Essa tendência pode ser captada pela concentração dos atuais projetos de expansão junto a portos exportadores em várias regiões do país. Além de diversos efeitos negativos no campo da economia e tecnologia, a expansão da produção de semi-acabados tenderá a agravar os impactos sociais e ambientais produzidos atualmente pelo setor siderúrgico. Existe um esforço das empresas em reduzir seus impactos sociais e ambientais, porém elas têm se limitado à inovação tecnológica gradual, que é incremental e apenas permite ganhos marginais de eficiência. Como o desafio apresentado ao setor siderúrgico é maior do que o simples debate sobre eficiência e gestão e vai além da engenharia e da administração, propomos que a discussão sobre a relocalização das etapas mais impactantes da produção de aço deva ser apropriada pelos fóruns de políticas públicas, desenvolvimento local, promoção da saúde e proteção ambiental.Palavras-chave: Siderurgia; Gestão Ambiental; Justiça ambiental.AbstractIn this article, we argue that the environmental management model based on technological innovation and increasing efficiency is not capable of compensating the environmental impacts that result from the expansion of the iron and steel sector in Brazil. Since the early 1990s, the Brazilian iron and steel industry has gone through a restructuring process, which resulted in the production expansion of semi-finished goods to supply the global market. Such trends can be identified in the projects developed close to exporting ports in various regions along the Brazilian coast. In addition to negative effects on the economic and technological fields, production expansion of semi-finished goods might intensify the environmental and social impacts created by the iron and steel sector. Companies are making significant efforts to reduce and mitigate their environmental and social impacts; however, they have limited their initiatives to gradual technological innovation, which is incremental and only obtains marginal efficiency progress. As the challenge faced by iron and steel sector in Brazil is broader than the simple debate about efficiency and management and goes beyond engineering and technology, we recommend that the discussion about the displacement of the hot phase of iron and steel production to countries like Brazil, should be incorporated by forums that debate public policy, local development, health promotion and environmental protection.Keywords: Steel Sector; Environmental Management; Environmental Justice
... Our desiccated tree generated three (or more) possible known unknowns considered worthy of being scientifically pursued (Xf, fungi, soil exhaustion or herbicide misuse) as well as negative knowledge to be ignored. But, like other cases in the literature (Wynne, 1992;Epstein, 1995;Gibbon, 2007;Hess, 2007), scientists, experts and advisors are not the only ones participating in defining both non-knowledge and negative knowledge about a technical-scientific problem. In fact, in many instances, social movements and organised public groups may also appear, contributing through their actions to shaping not only the boundaries between non-knowledge and negative knowledge, but also the overall process of circulation (and non-circulation) of academic knowledge. ...
The main theme of my contribution is the circulation of knowledge through the interaction between academics and extra-academic collective actors during a scientific and environmental controversy. Environmental problems are a domain where this interaction between academic and extra-academic actors often occurs. My research focuses on the processes of pathologisation of the Olive Quick Decline Syndrome in Puglia (Italy), where the construction of a pathology became the cause of a conflict among different expert groups, social movements and authorities. In 2013, the plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) was detected in olive trees affected by severe declines and desiccations. Emergency phytosanitary measures started to be set up soon after. Over the following years, eradication and containment measures were implemented. Such measures, like the removal of infected plants and the use of pesticides, were strongly criticised and opposed by different local civic society organisations that organised in a socio-environmental movement called “Il Popolo degli Ulivi”. In addition to opposing mandatory phytosanitary measures, this movement has gradually developed an articulated critique towards the academic knowledge produced on plant pathology and the local and European politics of research formed around it. In their view, Xf is not the cause of the desiccation, which instead is caused by a wide range of biotic and abiotic factors, as well as social, political and economic factors. This movement has also organised an informal network of academics coming that backed and sustained their critiques and their call for a “360° research” on the pathology to find a cure for the diseased trees. My research on this case study is based on a two-year fieldwork in which I participated in meetings, conferences and seminars and conducted in-depth interviews with activists, academics and experts. I will focus on how Il Popolo Degli Ulivi’s members have epistemically reconstructed the aetiology of the pathology and reappropriated political spaces of scientific agency. Furthermore, I will show how this socio-environmental movement used academic knowledge and interacted with academics and experts to reclaim areas of research that, in their view, are left unexplored and ignored. With my case study, I propose some insights on the influence of scientific controversies on the circulation of academic knowledge.
... The control over science by actors outside the institution is enabled, according to Hess, by the process he calls "epistemic modernisation". This concept informs the process through which the programmes, concepts and methods of scientific research are opened up to the control, influence and participation of users, teachers, non-governmental organisations, social movements, minorities and social groups that can represent perspectives on phenomena divergent from those of economic and political elites and professional scientists (Hess, 2007(Hess, , 2009. ...
Empirical research in education needs to be revitalised. However, there are some misunderstandings to solve: I) experts must refrain from expropriating the teachers from any possibility of voicing about scientific research that matters; II) considering scientific evidence as incontrovertible fact is erroneous; III) believing that the only research worth being conducted at school is that that delivers certainty and political/ethical impartiality is the last misconception. A couple of obstacles to counter these misunderstandings subsists: I) the teacher training, which does not equip teachers to comprehend and conduct scientific research; II) the practices of accountability of scientific production in academic institutions pushing researchers to publish low-quality/interest studies. In this context, Citizen Science (involvement of non-researchers in interactions with researchers as equals) can be a promising resolving direction.
... Money and status 昀氀ow to actors, programs, and organizations exploring topics of concern to government and corporate interests at the expense of topics important to less powerful groups. Because resources that enable research and dialogue 昀氀ow overwhelmingly to areas of interest of political and economic elites, underrepresented communities living with water hazards tend to face systematically incomplete or unrepresentative knowledge (Hess 2007;Frickel et al. 2010). Therefore, dialogues dominated by elites have the potential to aggravate DEIJ failures in water resources, especially when people rely on these dialogues to gain knowledge and develop skills to e昀昀ectively participate in decision-making (Ottinger et al. 2017). ...
In the United States, the lack of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) in water governance and management has been identified as a serious problem that affects the validity of decisions. Because water governance and management institutions, processes, and practices at all scales involve dialogue, it is important to understand DEIJ in water dialogues. This paper reports on the results of a systematic literature survey that was undertaken to guide efforts by The University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center to improve diversity and inclusion in its engagement practices and outreach strategies. Three questions are explored: 1) How is DEIJ defined, conceptualized, and measured in water dialogues?, 2) How does a lack of DEIJ in water dialogues affect water‐related outcomes and actors?, and 3) What are the approaches that can be used to increase DEIJ in water dialogues, especially with respect to underrepresented groups? The review synthesizes definitions of DEIJ and examines theories and methods from the literatures on discourse, diversity, social learning, and environmental justice. The lens of dialogue focused these disparate literatures on how people with diverse voices can be engaged and enabled to effectively participate in water dialogues. Despite the paucity of DEIJ literature relating to water resources in general, and to water dialogues more specifically, the review identified characteristics of DEIJ, factors that contribute to DEIJ issues, general lessons, and pathways that apply to increasing DEIJ in water dialogue participation. Further, this paper articulates a conceptual framework for understanding and addressing DEIJ failures in water dialogues. A concept of “just water dialogues” emerged that integrates insights from the literature reviewed with notions of environmental justice to help with identifying and resolving “water dialogue justice” (i.e., DEIJ failures). Review results suggest that DEIJ in water resources dialogues depends on the distribution of knowledge resources, and on broader issues that include cultural, political, and other often ignored contextual factors. Importantly, addressing DEIJ problems through the creation and maintenance of just water dialogues requires tackling power imbalances, enhancing individual and organizational capacity, and building bridges through effective engagement of diverse voices, especially those of underrepresented groups. Strategies that have demonstrated effectiveness in other contexts are highlighted, and future research needed to improve practices to enhance DEIJ in water dialogues is outlined.
... Undone science, as illuminated through the work of Frickel et al. (2010) and Hess (2007), refers to the failure to authorize, fund and/or complete research that some stakeholders consider to be essential. Undone science is particularly important for industries as the absence of knowledge about harms removes an obstacle to portraying their products as safe, which enables them to more effectively market their products and resist regulations. ...
Over the last thirty years Canadian, US and New Zealand governments have conducted numerous aerial pesticide spraying campaigns over densely-populated areas. To shed light on the phenomenon, the book analyzes 2002-2004 operation over Auckland, which was the largest of these spraying campaigns, consisting of 45+ sprayings carried out over 27 months, and exposing, at its peak, over 193,000 residents to the spraying.
The book highlights how the pursuit of this spraying operation was driven by the desire to protect lumber industry profits, and how government agencies built public support for it by falsely portraying an invasive species as a triple biosecurity threat (i.e. threat to local ecology, economy, and public health) and by fostering ignorance and uncertainty about pesticide concerns.
... Science and technology studies scholars writing on the environ-ment specifically have found that trust or acceptance of any given knowledge emerges in these interactions. These relationships have been described as acknowledged scientific expertise (Collins & Evans 2007), as democratic processes that mitigate between scientists and the lay public (Bocking 2004), as social constructions of needs for which the knowledge is a solution (Pinch & Bijker 1984), as the erasure of local differences (Tsing 2005), or as the hard work of grassroots social movements to be heard as legitimate (Hess 2007). But in all cases, to accept a claim as authoritative one must accept the legitimacy of the relationship between the claim about the issue and the issue itself, between the network of knowledge and the ob-ject of that knowledge (see also MacKenzie 1990, Wynne 1992, Dumit 2004. ...
This article examines the production of a highly referenced yet unofficial Google map made during the 2007 wildfires in Southern California to track the unfolding disaster in order to explore how, under duress of disaster, diverse actors and technologies interact to produce mutually legitimate ways of knowing that disaster. Drawing on informal interviews of key actors in the production of the map as well as textual analysis of government and scientific documents regarding the wildfires, I explore the improvisational practices that took shape in order to better understand how diverse voices, often non-authoritative ones, become part of the collective knowledge of that disaster. Engaging with visual culture studies, critical geography and science and technology studies, I expand upon the complexity of the relationship between representation and world, and argue that no single person, technology, or environmental factor was in control of the mapping practice. I find that the legitimacy and value of the map is to be found in the ad-‐hoc and often problematic interactions that produced the map, where wildfire expertise is not located in a specific training or position in society, but distributed over the network of interactions. Analyzing the relationship between representational practice and knowledge in this way, I argue, can help make visible how valued forms of knowledge were not determined a priori to the wildfires or map, but came into being along with the map.
... Another set of literature related to scientific disputes over the cause and effects of toxic exposures explores the idea of 'undone science' (Hess 2007;Frickel et al. 2010). Undone science refers to research that is routinely disregarded, unfunded or left unfinished yet is acknowledged by other actors as deserving of serious study (Kleinman and Suryanarayanan 2013). ...
Scientific evidence and knowledge are central to movements for environmental justice. Cases of pesticide toxicity have often led to the emergence of controversies around the nature of evidence and its causal connection to observed pathologies. Toxic effects depend on multiple, situated socioecological conditions such as time and place, duration, and mode of administration, making quantifiable etiology tenuous. Research on toxic exposure issues has shown limitations of regulatory sciences in establishing causality and argued for bringing various ways of knowing to understand, acknowledge and act against harms due to exposure. This article draws on sociological research carried out in northern Kerala, where continued use of the insecticide endosulfan between 1977 and 2000 has had significant health impacts on farmworkers and the general population. We present the case of endosulfan poisoning as an instance of controversy over evidence and uncertainty about causality emerging from agriculture scientists’ insistence on proof of etiology that has effectively jeopardized justice for endosulfan victims. We argue that, in cases of economy-oriented production agriculture, powerful actors like agriculture scientists, governments and the pesticide industry use science as a tool to maintain uncertainty as a resource to obscure the truth, making claims about reparative policies and actions impossible.
... Estos autores, encabezados por Hess (2007), se han centrado especialmente en la ausencia de conocimientos que hubieran sido útiles para que los movimientos sociales y las organizaciones de la sociedad civil cuenten con los recursos necesarios para enfrentarse a las políticas sostenidas por los industriales y las élites políticas que atentan contra la salud pública y el medio ambiente. Ellos muestran que la «ciencia no-hecha» (undone science) puede tener varios orígenes, que van desde el funcionamiento de la propia ciencia (con sus jerarquías, sus centros de intereses del momento, sus competencias, sus propias dinámicas de producción de conocimiento), hasta las acciones de grupos de presión (lobbying) de ciertos actores suficientemente poderosos (industrias, movimientos sociales, grupos políticos) y esto a pesar de los intentos alternativos de producción de conocimiento (Frickel & Vincent, 2007;Hess, 2007;Kleinman & Suryanarayanan, 2013). ...
Desde hace más de veinte años, la ignorancia es un tema de investigación en boga tanto en la sociología como en la filosofía, la historia o la antropología. Esto ha dado lugar a una abundante literatura. Este artículo propone revisar de manera crítica los aportes y los límites de los estudios sobre la ignorancia. Pretende dar cuenta de lo que han generado los trabajos producidos en el marco de la agnotología, de la nueva sociología política de la ciencia y del estudio de la ignorancia estratégica, cómo estos han renovado las cuestiones tratadas, pero también lo que reducen o dejan en la sombra. Sobre esta base, se propone superar algunos de estos límites profundizando las pistas ya abiertas por los Ignorance Studies, ampliando el enfoque para renovar y ampliar los estudios de la ignorancia en su diversidad, y trabajando para esclarecer las complejas dinámicas que vinculan ignorancias, saberes e incertidumbres en diferentes configuraciones.
... Revue d'anthropologie des connaissances, 15-4 | 2021 all despite alternative attempts at knowledge production (Frickel & Vincent, 2007;Hess, 2007;Kleinman & Suryanarayanan, 2013). 11 The result of all this is a significant body of literature on remediation mechanisms for undone science (Hess, 2019), including media exposure of a problem, alternative research funding that allows study of the problem, and the development of counterexpertise by participative or citizen science. ...
L’ignorance est depuis plus d’une vingtaine d’années une thématique de recherche en vogue aussi bien en sociologie, en philosophie, en histoire ou en anthropologie, donnant lieu à une littérature foisonnante. Cet article propose de reconsidérer de manière critique les apports et les limites des études de l’ignorance. Il cherche à rendre compte de ce que les travaux réalisés, en particulier ceux produits dans le cadre de l’agnotologie, de la nouvelle sociologie politique des sciences et de l’étude de l’ignorance stratégique, ont permis faire émerger. Il montre comment ces travaux, autant qu'ils ont renouvelé les questions investies, ont également réduits et laissé dans l'ombre plusieurs aspects. Sur cette base, il propose de dépasser certaines de ces limites en approfondissant les pistes déjà ouvertes par les Ignorances Studies en élargissant la focale pour renouveler et élargir les études de l’ignorance dans leur diversité, en travaillant à clarifier les dynamiques complexes qui lient ignorances, savoirs, et incertitudes dans différentes configurations.
... When the human population showed slow growth and technology was in its immaturity, the environs could fluently absorb human and industrial waste. With increase in human population and great advancement in technology in the recent history, the waste materials have multiplied in amount as well as in kind, and this has resulted in impurity of environment [1]. By contaminating the environs, man has wiped out numerous species of wildlife and has pushed several other species in the danger of extermination. ...
In order to study the impact of metals released by industries on soil properties and soil enzymes, many soil samples were collected from agricultural fields and industrial zone contaminated by industriesof Metoda village in Rajkot region. The results revealed that the industrial zone were contaminated by metals compared with agricultural fields. Under the metal contamination, the activities of the soil enzymes (urease, protease,hydrogenase and cellulase) in industrial zone were disturbed than those in the agricultural fields. In addition, the results showed that few enzymes were negatively correlated with DTPA-extractable metals. Soil microorganisms and enzyme activities involving soil organic carbon and nitrogen decomposition and stabilization were decreased due to the toxic metal concentration. INTRODUCTION We aware in a biosphere in which natural resources are limited. Water, soil, minerals, reactionary energy and products from timber, Champaign, abysses as well as from husbandry and beast are all a part of our life support system. When the human population showed slow growth and technology was in its immaturity, the environs could fluently absorb human and industrial waste. With increase in human population and great advancement in technology in the recent history, the waste materials have multiplied in amount as well as in kind, and this has resulted in impurity of environment[1]. By contaminating the environs, man has wiped out numerous species of wildlife and has pushed several other species in the danger of extermination. This adverse phenomenon also damages our living conditions and cultural assets. These environmental changes are impacting not only air, water and land resources but also natural diversity and human health. Soil supports lifeof plants, animals and microorganisms. Hence, soil pollution affects all organisms. The soil may be regarded as a nonrenewable resources because the process of soil formation is so slow. This makes the problem soil pollution more acute. Soil productivity includes both the quantity and quality of produce. So substances which reduce productivity of the soil are regarded soil pollutants. Numerous materials negatively affect the physical, chemical and natural properties of the soil and reduce its productivity. Elements present in the industrial waste extent the soil directly with water or indirectly through air. These include iron, lead, manganese, copper, mercury, zinc, cadmium, chromium etc. Availability of Heavy metals in soil and aquatic ecosystem is comparatively to a fairly lower proportion in atmosphere as particulate or vapors. Heavy metal toxicity in organisms varies with their species, specific metal concentration, chemical form and soil composition, as many heavy metals are considered to be essential for plant growth. Some of these heavy metals like Cu, Zn either serve as cofactor and activators of enzyme responses, e.g., in forming enzyme-substrate metal complex or exert a catalytic property similar as prosthetic group in metaloproteins (Mildvan,). These essential trace metal nutrients take part in redox responses, electron transfer and structural functions in nucleic acid metabolism. Some of the heavy metals similar as Cd and Hg are explosively toxic to metal-sensitive enzymes, performing in growth inhibition and death of organisms. The objectives of this paper are to bandy the threat of heavy metal contaminated side, to provide a brief view about soil physico-chemical properties and soil enzyme exertion to gate some ideas about the
... Profissionais da medicina das empresas suscitam falsas controvérsias, de que é exemplo a necessidade de comprovação de marcadores inflamatórios em análises clínicas como critério para confirmação da origem ocupacional das doenças musculoesqueléticas dos membros superiores 7 . Além disso, não estão disponíveis informações fundamentais para esclarecimentos das relações saúde e trabalho 8 . Denominado "ciência não produzida (undone science)", o fenômeno resulta também da falta de financiamento ou pouca relevância dada aos aspectos sociais 9 , como se vê (ou não se vê) nos editais das agências de fomento. ...
Resumo Verifica-se no Brasil e no mundo uma discrepância entre as estimativas dos efeitos da exposição aos riscos ocupacionais sobre a saúde e as estatísticas oficiais de doenças profissionais. Em que pese as inovações nas listas oficiais, principalmente, no período 1999-2007, a subestimação estatística não foi modificada. A análise documental forneceu elementos para identificar a produção da ignorância científica, o ordenamento jurídico vigente e o funcionamento das entidades médico-administrativas que produzem a invisibilidade social das doenças profissionais. Discutiu-se de que maneira essa invisibilidade é produzida por diferentes estruturas lógicas e horizontes normativos que fundamentam o diagnóstico, comunicação e registro dessas doenças. As hipóteses foram desenvolvidas em linha com os constructos da sociologia da ciência e inação pública.
... Action research, as it is based outside of institutions, has been easily dismissed by science (Society for Participatory Research in Asia et al. 1982, Hall 2005. Science left undone by institutions and their funding partners, however, has been a contributor to blocking locally affected populations from meaningful intervention in the trajectory of fossil fuel development that affected their health and which now threatens the health of the planet (Hess 2007, Frickel et al. 2010). This dynamic is currently being reproduced in "desirable" transition infrastructure such as wind or solar (Ottinger 2013, Welton andEisen 2018). ...
Practices developed by the environmental justice movement to address regulatory gaps can be scaled up and applied to climate governance. Community science offers a model of deliberative knowledge production for ill-defined environmental concerns where basic understandings of reality are not shared. The practice of deliberative democracy is currently generating transformative calls to climate action. The cost of participation in both knowledge production and in governance can be reduced through the social and technical methods of facilitation, increasing the realism of calls for more democracy not less. It is an important lesson for science that aims to scale up its governance paradigm.
... Grassroots innovations committed to social, spatial, environmental and racial justice and broader social-environmental and socio-spatial transformations are not new. As argue, grassroots innovation has historically been a key part of social movements, whether linked to material and economic necessity or fueled by social needs that have been marginalized by the conventional innovation systems of states and markets (Hess, 2007;Seyfang and Smith, 2007;Smith et al., 2014. However, especially over the last decade, these initiatives have grown significantly. ...
In this article, by drawing on empirical evidence from twelve case studies from nine countries from across the Global South and North, we ask how radical grassroots social innovations that are part of social movements and struggles can offer pathways for tackling socio-spatial and socio-environmental inequality and for reinventing the commons. We define radical grassroots social innovations as a set of practices initiated by formal or informal community-led initiatives or/and social movements which aim to generate novel, democratic, socially, spatially and environmentally just solutions to address social needs that are otherwise ignored or marginalised. To address our research questions, we draw on the work of Cindi Katz to explore how grassroots innovations relate to practices of resilience, reworking and resistance. We identify possibilities and limitations as well as patterns of spatial practices and pathways of re-scaling and radical praxis, uncovering broadly-shared resemblances across different places. Through this analysis we aim to make a twofold contribution to political ecology and human geography scholarship on grassroots radical activism, social innovation and the spatialities of resistance. First, to reveal the connections between social-environmental struggles, emerging grassroots innovations and broader structural factors that cause, enable or limit them. Second, to explore how grassroots radical innovations stemming from place-based community struggles can relate to resistance practices that would not only successfully oppose inequality and the withering of the commons in the short-term, but would also open long-term pathways to alternative modes of social organization, and a new commons, based on social needs and social rights that are currently unaddressed.
... It is probably not a coincidence that as the scale and scope of technological mediation increases, meaningful democratic participation in most aspects of governance decreases (Winner, 1977). There are productive counter-examples to this trend, of course, as with the formation of new social movements (Juris, 2008;Hess, 2007) or participation in formal politics over the internet (Ratcliffe and Lebkowsky, 2005). Nonetheless, the public is generally excluded from active participation in most matters considered technical, from transportation to city planning, from energy resources to military weaponry, from food production to communication networks. ...
... The analysis of the factors shaping research priorities can help in reflecting how science policy interventions could balance and diversify research portfolios. We will do this exploration through a number of lenses drawing on framings from political economy and political sociology (Bambra, Fox, and Scott-Samuel 2005;Hess 2007;Moore et al. 2011) complemented with focusing on the specific influences to individual researchers (Gläser 2019). This means attending to factors such as sources of funding, institutional logics and evaluation. ...
This report aims to map and provide information on current research in mental health to inform and help funding agencies reflect on their research and innovation priorities. The emphasis lies in spotting misalignments and gaps of current research efforts against perceived societal needs and demands in light of shifting mental health needs.
Rather than leading to the emergence of a problem, some processes contribute to limiting their scope and impeding agenda-setting. These “nonproblems” are situations that could have led to social mobilizations or public intervention but end up neither being publicized nor subject to strong policy. We use occupational health in France to illustrate these mechanisms. The social invisibility of work-related ill-health is linked to the joint contribution of two processes. Firstly, from the perspective of research on ignorance and undone science, scientific knowledge is under-developed compared to other public health issues. And even available knowledge is rarely used by policy-makers. Secondly, policies use underestimated numbers from the occupational diseases compensation system. This specific configuration of knowledge/ignorance and official counting plays a central role in the production of occupational health issues as a nonproblem. Their invisibility contributes to the production of inertia and public inaction that characterize public policy in this field.
This paper analyses the right to repair (R2R) movement through the lens of radical democracy, elucidating the opportunities and limitations for advancing a democratic repair ethics against a backdrop of power imbalances and vested interests. We commence our analysis by exploring broader political-economic trends, demonstrating that Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are increasingly shifting towards asset-based repair strategies. In this landscape, hegemony is preserved not solely through deterrence tactics like planned obsolescence but also by conceding repairability while monopolizing repair and maintenance services. We further argue that the R2R serves as an ‘empty signifier’, whose content is shaped by four counter-hegemonic frames used by the R2R movement: consumer advocacy, environmental sustainability, communitarian values, and creative tinkering. These frames, when viewed through Laclau and Mouffe’s theory of radical democracy, reveal different potentials for sustaining dissent and confronting OEMs' hegemony in the field of repair. Analysed in this way, an emerging business ethics of repair can be understood as driven by the politics of repair beyond repair. This notion foregrounds the centrality of non-violent conflict and antagonism for bringing radical democratic principles to repair debates, looking beyond narrow instrumentalist conversations, where repairability is treated as an apolitical arena solely defined by concerns for eco-efficiency and resource productivity.
This theory-building essay aims to conceptually articulate the valuing of the transfer of citizens’ nonadministrative knowledge to government. Two ways of valuing, instrumental and normative, are identified and examined in public administration literature. I argue that public administration lacks an understanding of the distinctive normative or democratic significance of citizens’ nonadministrative knowledge. To fill this gap, selected critical theory, postmodern, and pragmatist philosophical approaches to the valuing of citizens’ knowledge are examined in relation to two kinds of knowledge transfer in citizen-government exchanges: administrator knowledge transfer and citizen knowledge transfer. The review suggests that the normative valuing of citizen knowledge transfer requires the empirical and proactive examination of contemporary forms of citizens’ knowledge; that administrator and citizen knowledge transfers should be investigated as interconnected phenomena in an integrative approach, which implies a greater attention to conflict over knowledge; and that the greater normative valuing of citizen knowledge transfer could stimulate its instrumental valuing.
Public debates on academic freedom have become increasingly contentious, and understandings of what it is and its purposes are contested within the academy, policymakers and the general public. Drawing on rich empirical interview data, this book critically examines the understudied relationship between academic freedom and its role in knowledge production across four country contexts - Lebanon, the UAE, the UK and the US - through the lived experiences of academics conducting 'controversial' research. It provides an empirically-informed transnational theory of academic freedom, contesting the predominantly national constructions of academic freedom and knowledge production and the methodological nationalism of the field. It is essential reading for academics and students of the sociology of education, as well as anyone interested in this topic of global public concern. This title is part of the Flip it Open Programme and may also be available Open Access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.
This article offers a legal explanation for the decline of honeybees. While most investigations into bee populations and bee survival rates have been scientific, this article provides an additional set of causes, showing how our legal definitions of property and standards of negligence contribute to a landscape hostile to the lives of bees. Examining recent litigation in the United States and Canada, it shows how legal concepts of property impact the lives of bees, especially in cases of pesticide overspray near property boundaries, and in the forms of knowledge and ignorance in play in contesting duties of care in negligence cases. By expanding our understanding of the causes of bee death, this article points toward additional ways in which the stressors that bees face might be reduced.
À partir des données d’une recherche sur l’origine du mouvement de la permaculture, les modalités de sa diffusion transnationale et sa présence actuelle en Italie et dans d’autres pays du sud de l’Europe, l’article propose une analyse de l’évolution du mouvement sous l’angle du poids croissant en son sein des formes d’appropriation individualisée mais également de « préfiguration ouverte ». La préfiguration suppose l’inscription de la vision du changement social d’un mouvement non seulement dans ses objectifs déclarés mais également dans ses pratiques. Alors que la « préfiguration fermée » préconise la création de communautés avec une identité forte et partagée et une frontière nettement délimitée séparant l’intérieur de l’extérieur, la « préfiguration ouverte » favorise les « collaborations » entre les activistes de la permaculture et d’autres mouvements et groupes sociaux. Dans les conclusions, l’article revient sur les risques associés à la « fluidité » de la permaculture comme méthode de préfiguration écologique, mais également sur la contribution de ce mouvement aux luttes pour la justice environnementale et climatique et à la transformation culturelle nécessaire à l’émergence d’une société civile écologique.
There is a growing body of research in the democratization of science, participatory governance, and citizen science within the extant Science and Technology Studies (STS) literature. The COVID-19 pandemic is a challenge not only in the medical sense but also for public policy due to limited data availability and deliberation process in policy making. This study focuses on the role of data activists in citizen-centered public policy making during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey. We examine two cases to argue that there was a data vacuum and data activists got extremely creative with the available data to satisfy the public’s hunger for information and to facilitate the deliberation process through Twitter. In each case, data activists challenged the official discourse and provided their data analysis in a clear and concise manner that could be understood by the public easily. Twitter’s growing importance in the democratization of science became obvious, as it was the medium where most interaction happened.
A creative and comprehensive exploration of the institutional forces undermining the management of environments critical to public health.
For almost two decades, the citizens of western Mexico have called for a cleanup of the Santiago River, a water source so polluted it emanates an overwhelming acidic stench. Toxic clouds of foam lift off the river in a strong wind. In Sewer of Progress, Cindy McCulligh examines why industrial dumping continues in the Santiago despite the corporate embrace of social responsibility and regulatory frameworks intended to mitigate environmental damage. The fault, she finds, lies in a disingenuous discourse of progress and development that privileges capitalist growth over the health and well-being of ecosystems.
Rooted in research on institutional behavior and corporate business practices, Sewer of Progress exposes a type of regulatory greenwashing that allows authorities to deflect accusations of environmental dumping while “regulated” dumping continues in an environment of legal certainty. For transnational corporations, this type of simulation allows companies to take advantage of double standards in environmental regulations while presenting themselves as socially responsible and green global actors. Through this inversion, the Santiago and other rivers in Mexico have become sewers for urban and industrial waste. Institutionalized corruption, a concept McCulligh introduces in the book, is the main culprit, a system that permits and normalizes environmental degradation, specifically in the creation and enforcement of a regulatory framework for wastewater discharge that prioritizes private interests over the common good.
Through a research paradigm based in institutional ethnography and political ecology, Sewer of Progress provides a critical, in-depth look at the power relations subverting the role of the state in environmental regulation and the maintenance of public health.
This paper aims to problematize pregnancy and support the development of a safe alternative method of gestation. Our arguments engage with the health risks of gestation and childbirth, the value assigned to pregnancy, as well as social and medical attitudes toward women’s pain, especially in labor. We claim that the harm caused by pregnancy and childbirth provides a prima facie case in favor of prioritizing research on a method of extra corporeal gestation.
As the world contends with the COVID-19 pandemic, scientific expertise has permeated political discourse and the phrase 'following the science' is being used to build trust and justify government decision-making. This phrase reflects a problematic assumption that there is one objective science to follow and that the use of scientific knowledge in decision-making is inherently neutral. In this article, we examine more closely the dense and intricate relationships, values, politics, and interests that determine whose knowledge counts, who gets to speak, who is spoken for, and with what consequences, in the translation of scientific knowledge. Drawing key insights from Stengers' Manifesto for Slow Science, we argue that implementation science has a central role to play in problematising the historic dominance of certain voices and institutional structures that have come to symbolise trust, rigour, and knowledge. Yet to date, implementation science has tended to overlook these economic, social, historical, and political forces. Fraser's conception of social justice and Jasanoff's 'technologies of humility' are introduced as useful frameworks to extend the capacity of implementation science to engage the broader public as an 'intelligent public' in the translation of knowledge, during and beyond the pandemic.
A new model of urban governance, mapping the route to a more equitable management of a city's infrastructure and services.
The majority of the world's inhabitants live in cities, but even with the vast wealth and resources these cities generate, their most vulnerable populations live without adequate or affordable housing, safe water, healthy food, and other essentials. And yet, cities also often harbor the solutions to the inequalities they create, as this book makes clear. With examples drawn from cities worldwide, Co-Cities outlines practices, laws, and policies that are presently fostering innovation in the provision of urban services, spurring collaborative economies as a driver of local sustainable development, and promoting inclusive and equitable regeneration of blighted urban areas.
Identifying core elements of these diverse efforts, Sheila R. Foster and Christian Iaione develop a framework for understanding how certain initiatives position local communities as key actors in the production, delivery, and management of urban assets or local resources. Within this framework, they explain the forms such initiatives increasingly take, like community land trusts, new kinds of co-housing, neighborhood cooperatives, community-shared broadband and energy networks, and new local offices focused on citizen science and civic imagination.
The “Co-City” framework is uniquely rooted in the authors' own decades-long research and first-hand experience working in cities around the world. Foster and Iaione offer their observations as “design principles”—adaptable to local context—to help guide further experimentation in building just and self-sustaining urban communities.
In 1975, the death of dictator Francisco Franco opened the door to a turbulent period known as the “Spanish Transition.” In the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, national politics, political violence and social demands were interwoven with international shifts in science and technology and global debates on “energy transitions.” In close dialogue with foreign environmental groups, the anti-nuclear movement in Spain deployed a large repertoire of collective action; it ranged from pleasant activities to violent direct actions against nuclear technologies, but also included the making of technological alternatives. Counter-culture activists and counter-experts opposed nuclear energy and promoted renewable energy as two sides of the same coin.
This paper explores the pioneering (and networked) initiatives of an anarchist-oriented group called Self-Managed Radical Alternative Technologies, created in 1976, and a group of young engineers who founded the cooperative Ecotècnia, which was behind the construction of the first commercial wind turbine in Catalonia in 1984. The paper focuses on the transnational circulation of grassroots knowledge, the epistemics of resistance, and the development of wind energy technologies as “technologies of protest.” Technologies of protest illuminate how the social construction of technology is intertwined with what I call the “social destruction of technology.”
While gender mainstreaming in research has been systematically supported at the institutional level, most especially by the European Commission through its funding schemes, less attention has been drawn to academic teaching. However, gendering education is an equally essential pillar to take care of, given that it is in universities that future researchers and scientists are currently educated and trained. Focusing on the case study of medicine, this paper aims to give an account of what a gender-blind approach to science is, and what biases it entails at different levels of biomedical practice, from knowledge production (research) to its transfer (clinical practice) and teaching (education and training). To do so, an interdisciplinary literature review – ranging from the health to the social sciences – has been undertaken with the aim of constructing a conceptual framework that could help to map and classify the various forms of sex and gender bias in medicine. A few good international practices aimed at debiasing academic curricula in medical schools will be described as well. In this regard, the efforts made in the domain of higher education remain fragmented and limited to a single country or organisation-based initiatives, while a more systematic approach should be encouraged.
Nearly thirty years ago Steven Yearley (1991) drew attention to the “uneasy alliance” existing between environmentalists, who claimed political authority in protecting nature, and environmental scientists, who claimed epistemic authority in knowing nature. A similar tension exists within the overlapping fields of environmental sociology and science and technology studies (STS). Both fields are proudly interdisciplinary and both claim jurisdiction over ‘nature’ as a central topic of research. Both fields gained legitimacy as academic social movements in the 1970s aimed at toppling central tenets of sociological inquiry. Environmental sociology’s emergence challenged the discipline to recognize ecological limits and the “study of interactions between environment and society” (Catton and Dunlap 1978; Scott and Johnson 2016). STS rose on the claim that the intellectual contents of science were not off-limits to sociological analysis as many, following Robert Merton (1973), assumed, but were best viewed as cultural and political objects that warranted close empirical study (Barnes 1977; Bloor 1976). From their inception, both academic social movements have held deep political commitments toward science and technology. Yet those political commitments have tended to run in different 2 directions, often leading practitioners to ask different questions and nourish different theoretical traditions and methodological preferences.
In this chapter, we will not enumerate the ways in which environmental sociology and STS undeniably diverge. That is all well-trod ground. Instead, our goal is to map some less familiar but mutually held territory. We will train our attention on bodies of empirical work where STS research engages questions about the material environment, environmental movements, and environmental knowledge. Our hope is that by paying less attention to philosophical differences among certain scholars, and more attention to empirical research and practice, we can help persuade readers that STS provides an important set of connections to – and has the potential to help advance – what we take to be one of environmental sociology’s central projects: a deeper materialist understanding of nature-society interactions. In order to do this, we have chosen to focus more in-depth on three areas of research: resource extraction and sustainable development, epistemic inequality and the social production of environmental ignorance, and the political mobilization of environmental scientists and other experts. All three topics have attracted significant interest in STS, especially over the past decade and thus offer multiple points of interconnection.
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