SCIENCE AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST : A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SCIENTIFIC PROFESSION IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

The advent of modernity entails a process of rationalization and bureaucratization, which literally means the application of scientific knowledge to sustain domination. Science, which underpinned the process, is itself transformed by it, for it becomes an appendage to the modern state. Although science had improved human lives and the environment, the problems created by science are equally important. As the world becomes increasingly complex, there is increasing dependence on scientists for guidance, even though it is popularly known that they disagree. These processes cast light on the roles of scientists in modernity. The following project tries to understand the roles of scientists in modernity. I present the complexities of scientific roles as derived from the institutional dynamics of science in society. The main arguments are: l) scientists could and do accentuate their socially conscious roles; 2) 'Public interest science' is a conceptualization of scientific roles that are oriented to serve the public good, and 3) from a perspective of ‘reflexive modernity’, public interest science could constitute a 'social movement' that endeavors to transform society.