Abstract

DI BELLO, Mariana Eva. Construyendo sentidos de utilidad: Investigadores, conocimientos científicos y problemas públicos. Cienc. docencia tecnol. [online]. 2018, n.57, pp.1-35. ISSN 1851-1716.

This paper addresses the issue of the social utility of scientific knowledge from a microsociological perspective. The article’s main objective is to analyze the processes of subjective assignment of senses of utility on scientific knowledge by researchers in the context of interactions with other non-academic actors interested in the use of this knowledge. Particular attention is paid to the temporal variations in the processes of construction of utility meanings as a result of actors’ reflexivity. The analysis is based on a case study carry out between 2009 and 2013 about an academic research group whose investigations are potentially useful for the local production of a vaccine for a reemerging disease in Argentina. As a result, the paper exposes the transformations in the practices of the research group resulting from their entry into a system of interactions with non-scientific actors as well as the limits of these changes.

Keywords : Scientific knowledge; Academic groups; Social utility of knowledge; Public problems.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )