Deliberating Nordic science, reconfiguring Nordic democracy

• Throughout the history of science and technology studies (STS), "the political" has been of central scholarly concern, from the macro-oriented interest explanations of early sociology to more recent attention to the role of science, glossed as “politics by other means,” in the construction of sociopolitical worlds themselves. STS scholarship has revealed public negotiations about what will count as legitimate knowledge as key sites for the contestation of the place of science and expertise in democratic societies, yet there has been less attention to the particular political histories and national trajectories that form the limits and possibilities of such debates. The Nordic countries, characterized by traditions of strong welfare states, particular styles of social democracy, and distinctive consensus-based modes of political deliberation and decision-making, offer a compelling context for scholars exploring the relationship between divergent political models and traditions and locally situated forms of scientific labor, discourse and governance. To this end, this panel will draw on ethnographic and historical research from a variety of scientific domains throughout Northern Europe in order to ask: To what extent are these Nordic political trajectories implicated in (and reformulated through) scientific knowledge production and science-based debates and deliberations across the region? How might a closer analysis of Nordic democratic engagement help us to understand the organization and regulation of scientific practices? Do Nordic examples of intersections or entanglements between science and politics, broadly defined, offer insights that might inform STS approaches to "the political" in other contexts?

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Övrig annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialantropologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Anthropology (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Annan humaniora (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Other Humanities (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary (hsv//eng)

Keyword

STS

the political

subpolitics

Scandinavia/Nordic countires

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)