Time, timing and narrative at the interface between UK technoscience and policy

S.M. Beynon-Jones; N. Brown

doi:10.3152/030234211X13111546663331

Time, timing and narrative at the interface between UK technoscience and policy

S.M. Beynon-Jones, N. Brown

Sociology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Special issue › peer-review

Abstract

Questions of timing, phasing and sequence have been central to recent critiques of science policy-making, which have highlighted sustained disjunctures between the relevance and importance given to different stakeholders at different moments in the policy-making process. In this paper we expand upon this recent `upstream/downstream' literature through a case study analysis of xenotransplantation (XTP), one of the defining controversies of 1990s UK biotechnology regulation. Drawing on insights from the sociology of expectations we trace the emergence of a UK policy narrative concerning the future of XTP and explore how the policy role became narrowly defined as a process of `reflex regulation', based upon technologically determinist assumptions and producing extremely short-term decision-making. We draw attention to the concrete costs of this delineation of the policy role and reveal that it is neither inevitable or necessary, by considering contrasts between the policy temporalities of the UK, Canada and the Netherlands.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	639-648
Number of pages	10
Journal	Science and Public Policy
Volume	38
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3152/030234211X13111546663331
Publication status	Published - Oct 2011

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10.3152/030234211X13111546663331

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/oup/spp/2011/00000038/00000008/art00007?token=005017c5f928a73405847447b49792f53736a6f386b66477633757e6f3f2f2730673f582f6b17761

Cite this

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title = "Time, timing and narrative at the interface between UK technoscience and policy",

abstract = "Questions of timing, phasing and sequence have been central to recent critiques of science policy-making, which have highlighted sustained disjunctures between the relevance and importance given to different stakeholders at different moments in the policy-making process. In this paper we expand upon this recent `upstream/downstream' literature through a case study analysis of xenotransplantation (XTP), one of the defining controversies of 1990s UK biotechnology regulation. Drawing on insights from the sociology of expectations we trace the emergence of a UK policy narrative concerning the future of XTP and explore how the policy role became narrowly defined as a process of `reflex regulation', based upon technologically determinist assumptions and producing extremely short-term decision-making. We draw attention to the concrete costs of this delineation of the policy role and reveal that it is neither inevitable or necessary, by considering contrasts between the policy temporalities of the UK, Canada and the Netherlands. ",

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AB - Questions of timing, phasing and sequence have been central to recent critiques of science policy-making, which have highlighted sustained disjunctures between the relevance and importance given to different stakeholders at different moments in the policy-making process. In this paper we expand upon this recent `upstream/downstream' literature through a case study analysis of xenotransplantation (XTP), one of the defining controversies of 1990s UK biotechnology regulation. Drawing on insights from the sociology of expectations we trace the emergence of a UK policy narrative concerning the future of XTP and explore how the policy role became narrowly defined as a process of `reflex regulation', based upon technologically determinist assumptions and producing extremely short-term decision-making. We draw attention to the concrete costs of this delineation of the policy role and reveal that it is neither inevitable or necessary, by considering contrasts between the policy temporalities of the UK, Canada and the Netherlands.

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DO - 10.3152/030234211X13111546663331

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JO - Science and Public Policy

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