Quand le public prend ses distances avec la participation

Abstract

When laypeople are wary of participation. A reflection on ironic detachment towards technical democracy. Laypeople’s capacity to co-produce scientific knowledge and to evaluate scientific projects has been progressively acknowledged. Yet environmental controversies have led us to consider two other significant phenomena, i.e., laypeople’s reluctance to take part in participation arenas, and the ability of these very same people to energetically and convincingly take a stand against the arguments of experts. Considering these two phenomena only as a hold-up on the way to true technical democracy would be an error. They highlight the capacity of laypeople to exercise judgement, which could well lead to their adopting an ironic stance towards both politics and science. In this paper we have attempted to explore the two features underpinning this judgment, namely clear-sightedness and disenchantment. We show that ironic judgment can reflect bad experiences shared by others, and may be potentially strengthened by social sciences theories, especially those criticizing political power and science. However, if widespread, irony could lead to a paralysed society. To conclude, we suggest an alternative way of considering science and politics, removed from either respect or sterile irony.