Public participation and democratization: effects on the production and consumption of science and technology

In this article, I discuss the democratizing effects of public participation in science and technology (PPST). Various forms of PPST have emerged as reactions of civil society or as institutionalized responses of States to science-society conflicts. I distinguish PPST into three types, which I call institutionalized, activist and conflictive, and at the margins of mainstream science and technology. Based on a broad literature review and analysis of case studies, I examine the participating actors by identifying their position in the productive structure, their form of participation, the expert-lay relationship and the constitution of the discussion agenda. Then, I evaluate the democratizing effects of lay participation on the configuration of scientific agendas, on the direction of development of technological trajectories and on the imposition of norms or limits on the use of technology. I argue that this typology brings to focus some issues not highlighted in other existing public participation typologies. It identifies, from a political economy perspective, the position in the productive structure from which the actors participate and distinguishes the democratizing effects of public participation on the production and consumption of science and technology.