The Public Perception of Science and Technology in a Periphery Society: A Critical Analysis from a Quantitative Perspective

Abstract

In this article a series of variables referred to the general public's valuations of science and technology are analysed. These valuations refer to different dimensions of science and technology—as a utility of scientific knowledge, their legitimacy, their bond with the cultural matrix of everyday life. The analysis is based on information from a survey carried out in a great urban conglomerate of a little scientific developing country, Argentina. We see that valuation variables discriminate the public according to their positive or negative responses about science, but that there is no evident association between them. We consider one variable in particular dividing the public into those who are ‘trustful’ and those who are ‘cautious’ regarding the advances of science, and we see how it is related to other significations of valuation. The pre-eminence of positions of ambivalence or contradiction in the population's perception regarding this topic is discussed. A factor analysis is presented that comprises these variables and that presents a set of ‘valuation orientations’ towards science as a result. Finally, it is interesting to see how education and the level of understanding of scientific knowledge affect the public's valuation, which questions the basic supposition of the tradition of public understanding studies.