Kagakugijutsu to Risuku no Shakaigaku Sociology of Science, Technology, and Risk (review)

T. Kojima, Kagakugijutsu to Risuku no Shakaigaku Sociology of Science, Technology, and Risk, Tokyo, Ochanomizu Shobo, October 2007, v+393 pp (Available in Japanese only). Shinichi Ogawa Received: 31 May 2008 /Accepted: 31 May 2008 / Published online: 10 January 2009 # National Science Council, Taiwan 2009 This book is one of the few ambitious works written by young Japanese sociologists of science and technology. Based on modern social theories, with critical reference to American and European sociology of science and technology, it focuses on the problems and hazards caused by the development of science and technology and on the prospects of “subpolitics” that countervail them. This book consists of an Introduction, Part One (four chapters), and Part Two (six chapters). Part One, “Sociology of Science, Technology, and the Risks,” illustrates how modern social theorists discuss science, technology, and risk. Further, it critically reviews the literature pertaining to sociology of science and technology and the practices in science, technology, and society (STS) movement. In Chapter 1—“A Review in Theories of Risk Society: Individualization and the Limitation of the Systems”—the author tries to synthesize the theories of risk put forth by German sociologists Ulrich Beck and Niklas Luhmann. In addition, relying on Beck and some examples in the Japanese society, the author points out that “subpolitics” are becoming more prominent in risk societies. Chapter 2, “An Inquiry into Public Understanding of Science: Some Examples of Medical and Environmental Problems in the UK,” traces the history of the public understanding of science (PUS) in Britain and summarizes its motive as “shortage of participation” by public. The author insists on its perspective being insufficient because its premise is based on the possibility of voluntary participation. People in the modern societies are suffering due to the hazards caused by science and technology. The most important agenda proposed by the author is how we can escape from the situation of unavoidable involvement and acquire freedom from the problems in science and technology. Chapter 3, “An Application of the Theory of Public Sphere to Sociology of Science and Technology,” based on Jurgen Habermas’ concept of “public sphere,” criticizes the consensus conferences in science and technology held in Japan. The East Asian Science, Technology and Society: an International Journal (2008) 2:449–452 DOI 10.1007/s12280-008-9057-2 S. Ogawa (*) Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan e-mail: sogawa@ynu.ac.jp author regards the PUS movement as significant, in that it corrects Habarmas’ observation that in the modern societies the “system” which instrumental rationality and formalized knowledge occupy has been colonizing the “lifeworld,” the arena of the living experiences in everyday life. According to the author, the Japanese political measures influenced by the PUS movement do not function as effectively as those in Britain. The consensus conferences in Japan were, by and large, initiatives of the political administration and lacked critically monitoring mechanisms. He characterizes the Japanese versions of consensus conferences as fakes of public spheres concerning science and technology. Chapter 4, “An Application of Theories of Civil Society to Sociology of Science and Technology: With the Author’s Experience of Fieldwork in a Non-Governmental Organization for Science and Technology,” compares the situations surrounding the non-governmental organizations in Europe with those in Japan. First, the author outlines the rise and fall of science shops in Europe. Then, he presents the profile of a Japanese non-governmental organization (NGO) for science and technology named Kokudomondai Kenkyukai (literally translation: The Study Group for Problems in the National Land, Japanese abbreviation: Kokudoken), which is one of the key actors in the case study described in Part Two. This NGO, established in the 1960s, with the aid of specialists ranging from scientists and engineers to lawyers, has been investigating various problems which resulted from civil engineering projects, including development of dams, urban development, and road traffic systems. Different from most of the science shops in Europe, its finance has been independent of public supports. Part Two, “A Case Study of the Litigations against the Inundations Downstream of the Tonoyama Dam, Built across the Hikigawa River, Wakayama Prefecture,” describes, in detail, how the residents protested to the local governments and an electric power firm about the floods after...