Rhetoric and science and technology studies

Abstract

The safety of medicines is increasingly becoming an issue of public concern, and calls for more transparency and public involvement abound. However, the notion of “public” is inherently ambiguous and loaded with values and normative expectations, which may have significant consequences for communicators involved with medicines safety. This chapter illustrates how methods and insights from two disciplines, rhetoric and science and technology studies (STS), can elucidate issues related to the publicity of medicines safety communication. In the first of two case studies a rhetorical analysis of a public hearing is presented and subsequently related to existing discussions of public hearings in STS scholarship. In the second case study an STS-driven analysis of a medicines safety controversy in the media is presented, and afterwards rhetorical insights are leveraged to discuss the meaning and implications of the controversy in medicines safety communication.