earticle

영어

Since the 1990s, science and technology studies (STS) has suggested a “public turn” to nudge science toward a more diversified set of questions. According to STS, we consider scientific knowledge socially and culturally conditioned. Our studies inform us that different societies define knowledge differently, and sometimes citizens need to define scientific knowledge with or against the authorities. The term “citizen science” fuses citizens with science rather than separating the two. It refers to scientific work involving citizens. Indeed, citizens may participate in various scientific activities, such as raising questions, funding, experimenting, discussing, and writing papers. Using two nationwide surveys conducted in South Korea in 2020 and 2021, we analyze current citizen participation in scientific work and we discuss the possibility of citizen engagement in science and technology culture. We also present in-depth interview data to document the current state of citizen science to supplement the survey results. Our findings show that we must re-explore the relationship between the influence of the social environment and science more broadly.