Sociology and the public understanding of science: from rationalization torhetoric

This paper contributes to the reappraisal of sociological theories of moder nity inspired by the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK). As much as th ese theories rely on received ideas about the nature of science that SSK ha s called into doubt, so do they rely on ideas about the public understandin g of science. Public understanding of science has been assumed to conform t o the monolithic logic and perception of science associated with rationaliz ation, leading to an impoverished view of the cognitive outlook of the mode rn individual. Rationalization has become the basis for the construction of theoretical critique of science divorced from any clear reference to publi c understanding, with the result that theory has encountered considerable p roblems in accounting for public scepticism towards science. However, rathe r than question rationalization, the more typical strategy has been to prop ose radical changes in the modernization process, such as postmodernism and the risk society. Against this, an alternative view of public understandin g is advanced drawn from SSK and rhetorical psychology. The existence of th e sociological critique of science, and SSK in particular, suggests that th e meaning of science in modernity is not monolithic but multiple, arising o ut of a central dilemma over the universal form of knowledge-claims and the ir necessarily particular, human and social grounding. This dilemma plays o ut not only in intellectual discourses about science, but also in the publi c's understanding of science. This argument is used to call for further soc iological research into public understanding and to encourage sociologists to recognize the central importance of the topic to a proper understanding of modernity.