ABSTRACT
This article investigates the Brazilian National Technical Commission on Biosecurity, an agency empowered to regulate genetically modified organisms in the country, and presents an analysis of its performance based on Goffman's interactionist approach. The commission is analyzed as if it were a theater in which different experts perform and act on stage, with an audience, a backstage area, and conflicts related to the roles represented. These strategies make it possible to understand the process of consolidating and stabilizing this commission as a decision-making body on genetically modified organisms in Brazil. The stabilization of the commission is associated with stage management that takes conflicts out of the public view and moves them behind the scenes, presenting decisions as free from political interference or personal interests.
A partir de estudo sobre a Comissão Técnica Nacional de Biotecnologia, órgão que concentra as competências de regulação de organismos geneticamente modificados no Brasil, o artigo apresenta uma análise, fundamentada na abordagem interacionista de Goffman, sobre sua atuação. Analisa a comissão como um teatro onde diferentes peritos realizam performances, atuam num palco, com uma plateia, bastidores e conflitos em relação aos papéis representados. Por meio de tais estratégias é possível entender o processo de consolidação e estabilização da comissão como instância decisória sobre organismos geneticamente modificados no Brasil. A estabilização da comissão está associada a uma gestão de palco que remove os conflitos para os bastidores e apresenta as decisões como isentas de interferências políticas ou interesses pessoais.
ABSTRACT
Resumo A partir de estudo sobre a Comissão Técnica Nacional de Biotecnologia, órgão que concentra as competências de regulação de organismos geneticamente modificados no Brasil, o artigo apresenta uma análise, fundamentada na abordagem interacionista de Goffman, sobre sua atuação. Analisa a comissão como um teatro onde diferentes peritos realizam performances, atuam num palco, com uma plateia, bastidores e conflitos em relação aos papéis representados. Por meio de tais estratégias é possível entender o processo de consolidação e estabilização da comissão como instância decisória sobre organismos geneticamente modificados no Brasil. A estabilização da comissão está associada a uma gestão de palco que remove os conflitos para os bastidores e apresenta as decisões como isentas de interferências políticas ou interesses pessoais.
Abstract This article investigates the Brazilian National Technical Commission on Biosecurity, an agency empowered to regulate genetically modified organisms in the country, and presents an analysis of its performance based on Goffman's interactionist approach. The commission is analyzed as if it were a theater in which different experts perform and act on stage, with an audience, a backstage area, and conflicts related to the roles represented. These strategies make it possible to understand the process of consolidating and stabilizing this commission as a decision-making body on genetically modified organisms in Brazil. The stabilization of the commission is associated with stage management that takes conflicts out of the public view and moves them behind the scenes, presenting decisions as free from political interference or personal interests.
Subject(s)
Humans , Publishing/standards , Peer Review, Research/standards , Qualitative Research , Surveys and Questionnaires , ChecklistABSTRACT
This article analyzes how responsible innovation has been discussed and implemented in the context of one of the Portuguese government's main activities to foster nanotechnology. Through the actor-network theory and the sociology of absences, we investigate the process of coproduction at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory to identify how concerns about responsible development have been implemented or ignored in the rules and practices. The institute emerged from a sociotechnical imagination that views it as an autonomous unit for producing technological innovations aimed exclusively at increasing competitiveness in a global market, which has been an obstacle to the materialization of robust responsible development practices.
ABSTRACT
Resumo Analisa como a inovação responsável é discutida e implementada no contexto de uma das principais ações de fomento à nanotecnologia do governo português. Por meio da teoria do ator-rede e da sociologia das ausências, investigamos o processo de coprodução do International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory para identificar como preocupações quanto ao desenvolvimento responsável têm sido implementadas ou ausentadas nas normas e práticas. O instituto foi concebido a partir de um imaginário sociotécnico que o vislumbra como unidade autônoma de produção de inovações tecnológicas voltadas exclusivamente para o aumento da competitividade num mercado global, o que tem servido como obstáculo para práticas robustas de desenvolvimento responsável.
Abstract This article analyzes how responsible innovation has been discussed and implemented in the context of one of the Portuguese government’s main activities to foster nanotechnology. Through the actor-network theory and the sociology of absences, we investigate the process of coproduction at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory to identify how concerns about responsible development have been implemented or ignored in the rules and practices. The institute emerged from a sociotechnical imagination that views it as an autonomous unit for producing technological innovations aimed exclusively at increasing competitiveness in a global market, which has been an obstacle to the materialization of robust responsible development practices.
Subject(s)
Humans , Technological Development , Nanotechnology , Academies and Institutes , Inventions , PortugalABSTRACT
This article explores the evolution of the nuclear energy debate and its associated controversies in the Portuguese parliament. The analysis focuses on the dictatorial regime of the New State (from the beginning of the nuclear program in 1951 until the 1974 revolution) and on the democratic period (post-1974). Portugal, as an exporting country of uranium minerals, significantly invested in the development of a national capacity in nuclear research, but never developed an endogenous nuclear power infrastructure. Through the analysis of parliamentary debates, this article characterizes the dynamic evolution of the Portuguese sociotechnical imaginary on nuclear energy and technology interlinked with ambivalent representations, including the promise of nuclear energy as key for the constitution of a technological Nation or as prompting new sociotechnical risks.