Science Popularisation Agents’ Potential Against Pseudo-Scientific Knowledge
How to Cite
Temnitskiy A.L., Moroz A.S. 2018. Science Popularisation Agents’ Potential Against Pseudo-Scientific Knowledge — Sociologicheskaja nauka i social’naja praktika. Vol. 6. No. 3. P. 62-76. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19181/snsp.2018.6.3.6003
Abstract
This article analyses results of a preliminary research inquiry into various groups of popularisation agents in Russia. Research helped to define professional and personal qualities of these agents, their motives, as well as their position towards pseudo-science, including typical means of pseudo-science development interruption. Pseudo-science development is seen as a permanent process in modern society, gaining this quality from negligent attitude of scientific institutions, state, business and society in general. In the first part of the article authors suggest that popularisation has two roots. Either an institutional root, when science is made public by journalists and editors, who are professionals in the field of information; or a functional one, when scientists themselves, untrained in journalism, take on the task of popularisation. The article then continues with the research, which was based on a sample of self-identifying popularisation agents. These agents represented four groups: journalists, scientists, higher education professionals and popularisation agents specialising in this activity. The initial hypothesis was that actions against pseudo-science propagation were rooted not in objective qualities of popularisation agents, but in their values, especially the value of «true science». The research shows that only a fifth of popularisation agents are concerned with the issue. They have an especially strong desire to protect the society. These agents are younger than the rest, they have less experience in professional field, and they demonstrate high enthusiasm in the task of fighting pseudo-science.
References
Abramov R.N. Professionalizatsiya nauchnoy zhurnalistiki v Rossii: soobschestvo, znanie, media. [Professionalization of scientific journalism in Russia: community, knowledge, media]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta Filosofiya. Sotsiologiya. Politologiya. 2014. № 1 (25). P. 111–123. (In Russ.).
Bakanov R.P. Aktual'nye problemy sovremennoy nauki i zhurnalistika. Uchebno-metodicheskoe posobie. [Actual problems of modern science and journalism. Educational and methodical manual]. Kazan': Kazanskiy gos. un-t, 2010. 152 p. (In Russ.).
Frolova T.I. Nauchnaya problematika v rossiyskikh SMI: kolichestvennyy analiz. [Scientific problems in the Russian media: quantitative analysis]. Vek informatsii. Media v sovremennom mire – Peterburgskie chteniya: materialy 54-go mezhdunarodnogo foruma (22–24 aprelya 2015). Ed. by S.G. Korkonosenko. SPb.: Vyssh. shk. zhurn. i mas. kommunikatsiy, 2015. P. 150–152. (In Russ.).
Sagan K. Mir, polnyy demonov: Nauka – kak svecha vo t'me. [The world is full of demons: Science as a candle in the darkness]. Per. s angl. 5-e izd. M.: Al'pina non-fikshn, 2018. 537 p. (In Russ.).
Temnitskiy A.L. Rol' figury zakazchika nauchnykh issledovaniy v protsesse formirovaniya doveriya k sotsial'noy nauke. [The role of the customer of scientific research in the process of building trust in social science]. POISK. Politika. Obschestvovedenie. Iskusstvo. Sotsiologiya. Kul'tura. 2018. Vyp. 2 (67). Mart – Aprel'. P. 103-111. (In Russ.).
Vaganov A.G. Nauchno-populyarnaya zhurnalistika i prestizh nauki v obschestvennom soznanii. [Popular science journalism and the prestige of science in the public consciousness]. Rossiyskiy KHimicheskiy ZHurnal (ZHRKHO im. D.I. Mendeleeva). 2007. T. 51. № 3. P. 86–90. (In Russ.).
Vaganov A.G. Evolyutsiya form populyarizatsii nauki v Rossii: XVIII-XXI vv. [The evolution of the forms of popularization of science in Russia: the XVIII-XXI centuries.]. Nauka. Innovatsii. Obrazovanie. 2016. № 3 (21). P. 64–77. (In Russ.).
Yakovenko I.A. Rynok nauchno-populyarnykh zhurnalov. Analiticheskiy obzor. [The market of popular science journals. Analytical review]. [Elektronnyy resurs]. Natsional'naya Tirazhnaya Sluzhba: [veb-sayt]. Elektron. tekst. dan. 2012. URL: http://pressaudit.ru/rynok-nauchno-populyarnyx-zhurnalov-analiticheskij-obzor/ (Data obrascheniya: 16.05.2018). (In Russ.).
Yanitskiy O.N. Dialog nauki i obschestva. [The dialogue of science and society]. Obschestvennye nauki i sovremennost'. 2004. № 6. P. 86–96. (In Russ.).
Zarubina N.N. Doverie k nauke v sovremennoy Rossii v kontekstakh mnozhestvennosti form znaniya. [Trust in science in modern Russia in the context of multiple forms of knowledge]. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya. 2018. № 5. P. 110–120. (In Russ.).
Chart: The Slow Death of Traditional Media [Electronic resource]. Visual Capitalist. 2016. URL: http://www.visualcapitalist.com/chart-slow-death-traditional-media/ (Date of access: 14.06.2018).
Bakanov R.P. Aktual'nye problemy sovremennoy nauki i zhurnalistika. Uchebno-metodicheskoe posobie. [Actual problems of modern science and journalism. Educational and methodical manual]. Kazan': Kazanskiy gos. un-t, 2010. 152 p. (In Russ.).
Frolova T.I. Nauchnaya problematika v rossiyskikh SMI: kolichestvennyy analiz. [Scientific problems in the Russian media: quantitative analysis]. Vek informatsii. Media v sovremennom mire – Peterburgskie chteniya: materialy 54-go mezhdunarodnogo foruma (22–24 aprelya 2015). Ed. by S.G. Korkonosenko. SPb.: Vyssh. shk. zhurn. i mas. kommunikatsiy, 2015. P. 150–152. (In Russ.).
Sagan K. Mir, polnyy demonov: Nauka – kak svecha vo t'me. [The world is full of demons: Science as a candle in the darkness]. Per. s angl. 5-e izd. M.: Al'pina non-fikshn, 2018. 537 p. (In Russ.).
Temnitskiy A.L. Rol' figury zakazchika nauchnykh issledovaniy v protsesse formirovaniya doveriya k sotsial'noy nauke. [The role of the customer of scientific research in the process of building trust in social science]. POISK. Politika. Obschestvovedenie. Iskusstvo. Sotsiologiya. Kul'tura. 2018. Vyp. 2 (67). Mart – Aprel'. P. 103-111. (In Russ.).
Vaganov A.G. Nauchno-populyarnaya zhurnalistika i prestizh nauki v obschestvennom soznanii. [Popular science journalism and the prestige of science in the public consciousness]. Rossiyskiy KHimicheskiy ZHurnal (ZHRKHO im. D.I. Mendeleeva). 2007. T. 51. № 3. P. 86–90. (In Russ.).
Vaganov A.G. Evolyutsiya form populyarizatsii nauki v Rossii: XVIII-XXI vv. [The evolution of the forms of popularization of science in Russia: the XVIII-XXI centuries.]. Nauka. Innovatsii. Obrazovanie. 2016. № 3 (21). P. 64–77. (In Russ.).
Yakovenko I.A. Rynok nauchno-populyarnykh zhurnalov. Analiticheskiy obzor. [The market of popular science journals. Analytical review]. [Elektronnyy resurs]. Natsional'naya Tirazhnaya Sluzhba: [veb-sayt]. Elektron. tekst. dan. 2012. URL: http://pressaudit.ru/rynok-nauchno-populyarnyx-zhurnalov-analiticheskij-obzor/ (Data obrascheniya: 16.05.2018). (In Russ.).
Yanitskiy O.N. Dialog nauki i obschestva. [The dialogue of science and society]. Obschestvennye nauki i sovremennost'. 2004. № 6. P. 86–96. (In Russ.).
Zarubina N.N. Doverie k nauke v sovremennoy Rossii v kontekstakh mnozhestvennosti form znaniya. [Trust in science in modern Russia in the context of multiple forms of knowledge]. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya. 2018. № 5. P. 110–120. (In Russ.).
Chart: The Slow Death of Traditional Media [Electronic resource]. Visual Capitalist. 2016. URL: http://www.visualcapitalist.com/chart-slow-death-traditional-media/ (Date of access: 14.06.2018).
Citation Formats
Other cite formats:
Harvard
Temnitskiy, A. L. and Moroz, A. S. (2018) ’Science Popularisation Agents’ Potential Against Pseudo-Scientific Knowledge’, Sociologicheskaja nauka i social’naja praktika, 6(3), pp. 62-76. doi: https://doi.org/10.19181/snsp.2018.6.3.6003.
Section
SOCIOLOGY OF YOUTH
Publisher: Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FCTAS RAS)