Karen Mogendorff

“Everyone may think whatever they like, but scientists...”: Or how and to what end plant scientists manage the science-society relationship

In this study, the authors examine the performative functions of scientists’ discursive constructions of the science-society relationship. They use discursive psychology to analyze interviews with Dutch plant scientists and show that interviewees contrast the freedom of people in the private sphere with scientists’ responsibilities in the professional sphere to regulate “lay” access to science. To accomplish this, interviewees make claims about the scientific value of lay views only after they have displayed their tolerance of these views. Additionally, many interviewees refer to their own lay status in everyday life. Finally, the relationship between findings and recent science communication approaches is discussed.

‘‘We say: ‘. . .’, they say: ‘. . .’: How plant science experts draw on reported dialogue to shelve user concerns

This study aims to increase insight into the uses of experts’ references to physically absent technology users in government-funded plant science. A discursive psychological analysis of expert board meetings shows that experts invoke various forms of reported dialogue/thoughts and dispositional statements when problems with technology and with program funding are discussed. Forms of reported dialogue serve to demonstrate that experts engage in dialogue with users, understand and are reasonable about users’ concerns, and that the content of user concerns does not agree with expert views. Dispositional statements allow users’ feelings rather than users’ knowledge to be acknowledged as relevant. By establishing that user concerns contrast with expert concerns in type and content and by not discussing how users’ feelings may be incorporated into technology, experts shelve user concerns. This practice may hinder the development of user-friendly technologies.

Turning Experts Into Self-Reflexive Speakers The Problematization of Technical-Scientific Expertise Relative to Alternative Forms of Expertise

Bio-experts’ portrayals of laypeople are considered problematic. Two discursive action method workshops with 17 participants were organized to discover whether plant experts can engage in reflexive problematization of their own talk about and in front of laypeople and whether plant experts’ analyses may offer insights with regard to the hegemony of technical-scientific expertise. Participants discussed the interactional effects of real-life expert talk. Plant experts’ discussions indicate that they can problematize how their talk-in-interaction helps reproduce the supremacy of technical-scientific expertise. Results also suggest that plant experts may offer complementary insights to social scientists’ analyses of plant experts’ talk.