Science and technology development and the depoliticization of the public space: The case of socially and culturally sustainable biotechnology in New Zealand
Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal
ISSN: 2040-8021
Article publication date: 30 August 2011
Abstract
Purpose
The authors aim to review a five‐year multi‐study research programme on the role of public dialogue in the social and cultural sustainability of biotechnology developments in New Zealand.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a critical review of all the published research products from a five‐year government‐funded study of the cultural and social aspects of sustainable biotechnology in New Zealand.
Findings
The review research highlights how New Zealand Government policies on biotechnology, which motivated the research programme, were fore‐grounded on economic progress and competitive positioning. Thus, debate on sustainable biotechnology issues became cast in economic and technical terms, while public dialogue became seen as diversionary and unsubstantiated. The analysis concludes that the programme was ineffective in influencing government policy and fell victim to the very problem of science governance that its purpose was designed to address.
Research limitations/implications
The research develops implications regarding the ability of government‐funded sustainability research to influence policy.
Originality/value
The review focuses on the purpose, content, outcomes, and context of the research programme and identifies a number of key themes that arose from the programme that are useful for other sustainability policy researchers. The reviewers conclude that this case demonstrates that the marketization of the public sphere depoliticises the social and cultural construction of the nation's future.
Keywords
Citation
Macdonald, L.R., Varey, R.J. and Barker, J.R. (2011), "Science and technology development and the depoliticization of the public space: The case of socially and culturally sustainable biotechnology in New Zealand", Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 8-26. https://doi.org/10.1108/20408021111162100
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited