Special Issue of Systemic Practice and Action Research on Scientific Communication. Observed with Social System Theory.
University Research Centres, Scientific Freedom, and the Jester’s Paradox
Egon B. Noe & Hugo F. Alrøe
Abstract: The key norm of good science is research integrity, which includes the freedom to inquire as an independent, self-organising system, and the responsibility to identify, frame, and engage in the problems of society, in a scientific manner. This paper investigates the challenges to scientific integrity experienced by university research centres. Research centres are organised around specific problematic fields in society and are expected to have specific societal impacts. Therefore, they are born with the paradox of being restricted in terms of scientific freedom yet required to meet science standards. As an example, we analyse the Danish Centre for Rural Research (CLF) which, like many other institutions of science and research centres, has become increasingly dependent on various external funding over the past decades. In social systems theoretical terms, research centres are hybrid organisations that operate simultaneously in the function systems of science, politics, and economy. The question is whether it is possible for research centres to uphold the requisite research integrity to provide society with truthful and critical knowledge – i.e. to uphold the necessary autopoiesis of the science function system, operating in the medium of truth – and at the same time be able to navigate in the structures of power that the centre is faced with, in terms of funding, outside control, and expectations of expectations. The medieval court jester, who was able to speak unwelcome truths to the all-mighty king without getting his head cut off, was a solution to this kind of paradox. The question is how we can handle this paradox in contemporary sciences, increasingly depending on external funding.
The Role of Management Science in Forming Next Era Semantics
Margit Neisig
Abstract: The author has previously in a social system theoretical perspective outlined a position for engaged scholarship in bridging the gulf between theorizing and practice. Partaking as “midwives” for shared semantics in a polycentric network was analyzed as one role for engaged scholars to assist. This paper, however, argues that for a shared semantic reservoir for “next era” leadership and management to form, one more layer of reflection is needed: how to manage “backwards” from the future. The paper also addresses geographic inclusion/exclusion, which seems to be reinforced as digitalization and abstract knowledge are gaining ground, even though bits and abstract knowledge should easily be detached from spatial limitations. Research programs targeting “grand challenges” and “grand solutions” is defined by megaprojects defined and financed by large foundations or other large-scale actors, and well-connected international research centers and research networks are needed to influence this agenda-setting. The paper argues that forming regional polycentric networks (including scientific research scholars) may to a greater extend bridge the global agendas with local and regional issues to not be excluded in a transition process.
Communicating Scientific Knowledge as News on Social Media: Analyses in Frames of Luhmann’s System Theory
Anahit Hakobyan
Abstract: Digital technology has posed a challenge to the conventional way in which scientific knowledge was disseminated and validated within the scientific system. Scientific knowledge has interfered into the mass media system through online platforms and social media networks. This tendency tremendously expanded after the Covid-19 pandemic, which challenged scientific community around the world to search for more effective ways of communicating scientific evidence. Meanwhile, recent studies show that trust towards science has globally increased since the pandemic. Moreover, it is a key driving force behind people’s attitudes and has predictable impact on their pandemic-related behavior. Despite the widespread dissemination of scientific knowledge, it is often misrepresented, oversimplified, or distorted. People trust science globally, yet scientific knowledge is disseminated through the widely-used yet least trusted medium of social media. This paper aims to analyze the interconnection between scientific and mass media systems and its effects on communicating scientific knowledge on social media. For this purpose, the logic of digital media platforms is explored, and Luhman’s system theory is viewed as an essential theoretical background for the analyses of the spread and exposure of scientific knowledge across social media. Theoretical analyses, along with secondary data analysis of recent global studies on news consumption and trust towards the media and science, are used to analyze the structural coupling of the mass media and scientific systems. The author concludes that it is essential to interconnect scientific and mass media systems, taking into account trust towards the medium, message, and source.
See here for earlier contributions to this special issue.
Luhmann Conference 