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fourteen - Where Will an Emerging Post-COVID-19 Future Position the Human?
- Edited by Paul Martin, University of Sheffield, Stevienna de Saille, University of Sheffield, Kirsty Liddiard, University of Sheffield, Warren Pearce, University of Sheffield
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- Book:
- Being Human during COVID-19
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 13 October 2022
- Print publication:
- 26 April 2022, pp 117-123
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Summary
Introduction
Despite long-standing warnings about the likely emergence in the near future of a novel coronavirus to which humans had no immunity, the pandemic caused by COVID-19 caught most countries unprepared. As of 18 April 2021, the world had recorded three million deaths due to COVID-19. The series of lockdowns adopted by most countries in an attempt to slow down the spread of the virus resulted in about 255 million full-time job losses in 2020 (ILO, 2021) many of which are likely to become permanent even after the pandemic is brought under control. Controlling COVID-19 has further challenged the fundamental human right of freedom of movement and ushered in a range of new methods of surveillance and control of public behaviour. It also underlined long-standing inequalities, with the burden of illness falling disproportionately on already disadvantaged groups, who tend to be more precariously employed (Warjri and Shah, 2020).
As worrisome as these trends are, it is also possible to imagine a future where COVID-19 leads us towards something more equitable, more humane and beneficially globalized (as well as better preparation for pandemics to follow). Although the future is deeply uncertain, and as of the time of writing the pandemic is far from over, we have also identified some positive trends which are worthy of discussion. We argue that the pandemic has shown us the possibilities which might be derived from shifting our focus from an economy based on always increasing monetary exchange of goods and services, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), to an economy focused on increasing social resilience and wellbeing. Key to this is a shift away from our present obsession with market-based indicators and a movement towards a growth-agnostic approach to innovation. In previous work, we have called this ‘responsible stagnation’ (de Saille et al, 2020), a term which could also describe the global halt to economic activity which occurred in March 2020 as the only means of stopping the spread of COVID-19. In this chapter we highlight some trends towards growth-agnostic, social innovations that occurred during 2020, focusing on human flourishing rather than economic growth.
eight - Science Advice for COVID-19 and Marginalized Communities in India
- Edited by Paul Martin, University of Sheffield, Stevienna de Saille, University of Sheffield, Kirsty Liddiard, University of Sheffield, Warren Pearce, University of Sheffield
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- Book:
- Being Human during COVID-19
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 13 October 2022
- Print publication:
- 26 April 2022, pp 67-74
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Summary
Introduction
The relationship between modern science and the public is complex even in ‘normal’ times (Nowotny et al, 2013). In times of pandemic, when knowledge uncertainties magnify, and decisions need to be taken in extremely pressing situations, this relationship needs extra care, caution and nurturing. In the absence of such care, science advice might do more harm than good, and perhaps will end up creating multiple new vulnerabilities, marginalities and loss. The primary focus of this chapter is to engage with the relationship of science and its public. What kind of public did science-based advice imagine while providing health advisories to prevent and contain a COVID-19 outbreak in India? Who did it include and who got marginalized in the process?
The analysis draws theoretically from Mike Michael’s (2009) conception of Public-in-General (PiG) and Publicin-Particular (PiP), which are associated with and emerge in response to different versions of science. While PiGs are ignorant yet cooperative, they fit more closely to the official narratives and emancipatory purposes of science; PiPs are often regarded as interest-driven, emotional and disruptive (Michael, 2009).
Science advice for the pandemic and its ‘public’
The science advice to curb the spread of the pandemic in India was designed and disseminated along the lines of the traditional model of science communication. This deficit model relies on the idea that the source of all disagreements between state/science and citizen/public lies in the lack of proper information and knowledge (Sturgis and Allum, 2004). With the ‘right’ information, the public will behave in desired and predictable ways, reducing chances of misinformation and confusion-led chaos, enabling governmentality. Traditional science communication-led interactions with the public were focused on making the public aware and better informed.
In the COVID-19 case, the public was envisioned as Public-in-General and assumed to be completely ignorant, lacking scientific knowledge and understanding. Public health advisories were disseminated through multiple visual and verbal platforms to promote awareness and bridge the information deficit. Scientific institutions (Indian Council of Medical Research), government departments and ministries (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Department of Science and Technology) took the lead at the central level, while other state-based institutions (district level administrative bodies) were roped in to communicating the health advice at the local level.
6 - The Plurality of Technology and Innovation in the Global South
- Stevienna de Saille, Fabien Medvecky, University of Otago, New Zealand, Michiel van Oudheusden, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, Kevin Albertson, Manchester Metropolitan University, Effie Amanatidou, University of Manchester, Timothy Birabi, Mario Pansera, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
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- Book:
- Responsibility Beyond Growth
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 18 March 2021
- Print publication:
- 15 July 2020, pp 91-110
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Summary
At face value, responsible innovation (RI) and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) address several aspects which were neglected in previous innovation concepts. With a more holistic framework, they suggest a great potential for global adaptability. However, a purely optimistic view risks ignoring the role that technological innovation has had in the so-called developing world and perpetuating patterns that conflict with the ‘ethics matters’ and ‘living gently’ aspects of responsible stagnation (RS). As mentioned in Chapter 5, the Global South represents a great reservoir of alternative ways of framing innovation. While these do not consciously conceptualize themselves as RS, they do open up new ways of thinking about technical change beyond the fetishism of endless growth – ideas which form an essential part of the Fourth Quadrant of the innovation matrix. This chapter highlights the complexity and challenges of innovation in the Global South, drawing on the reflections of anthropologists and post-colonial scholars to consider how responsibility (beyond growth) and RI might be approached to make these concepts relevant to countries in the Global South, without repeating the patterns of colonization which are contrary to RS's underlying ethos of care.
In The World and the West, the British historian Arnold J. Toynbee reflects on the role of technology as a transformative social agent within foreign societies. He anticipated what the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) would eventually come to claim – that technology (and therefore innovation) is culturally, socially and politically constructed, whether unconsciously or by design:
Technology operates on the surface of life, and therefore it seems practicable to adopt a foreign technology without putting oneself in danger of ceasing to be able to call one's soul one's own. [… however,] if one abandons one's own traditional technology and adopts a foreign technology instead, the effect of this change on the technological surface of life will not remain confined to the surface, but will gradually work its way down to the depths till the whole of one's traditional culture has been undermined and the whole of the foreign culture has been given entry. (Toynbee, 1953, p 55)