La comunicación pública de la ciencia y tecnología como acción política en un escenario de crisis

Abstract

In this paper we approach the communicational aspects of the social mobilization process by the Argentinian scientific sector against the austerity policies implemented by the national government in the 2015-2019 period, attending to the strategies of public communication of science and technology (PCST) deployed by scientists involved in the conflict. We seek to characterize the relationship between science policy, the politics of science, and PCST, since this is one of the main ways in which agents of the scientific field turn to the public sphere to dispute and legitimize their interests. In order to do so, we review collective actions carried out by CONICET workers in 2018-2019. By analyzing the speech genres in public documents addressed to national authorities and citizens, we identify actors involved, underlying models of science and PCST, and social representations transmitted. We also question the role of PCST in an unstable regional context where political-economical models with very dissimilar agendas are systematically alternated. We conclude by reflecting on the possible object of PCST in a technoscientific system which is disarticulated and undergoing a crisis.