Popular Science as Cultural Dispositif: On the German Way of Science Communication in the Twentieth Century (2013)
Schirrmacher, Arne (Author)
Science in Context
Volume: 26
Pages: 473--508
Edition Details: Part of the special supplement “Communicating Science: National Approaches in Twentieth-Century Europe”.
Language: English
German twentieth-century history is characterized by stark changes in the political system and the momentous consequences of World Wars I and II. However, instead of uncovering specific kinds or periods of "Kaiserreich science," "Weimar science," or "Nazi science" together with their public manifestations and in such a way observing a narrow link between popular science and political orders, this paper tries to exhibit some remarkable stability and continuity in popular science on a longer scale. Thanks to the rich German history of scientific leadership in many fields, broad initiatives for science popularization, and a population and economy open to scientific progress, the media offered particularly rich popular science content, which was diversified for various audiences and interests. Closer consideration of the format, genre, quality, and quantity of popular science, and of the uses and value audiences attributed to it, along with their respective evolution, reveals infrastructures underpinning science communication. Rather than dealing with specific discourses, the conditions of science communication are at the center of this article. Therefore I focus on the institutions, rules, laws, and economies related to popular science, as well as on the philosophical, moral, and national propositions related to it, and also on the interactions among this ensemble of rather heterogeneous elements. This approach allows a machinery of popular scientific knowledge to be identified, in Foucauldian terms a dispositif, one which is of a particularly cultural nature.
...MoreArticle Schirrmacher, Arne (2013) Introduction: Communicating Science: National Approaches in Twentieth-Century Europe. Science in Context (p. 393).
Similar Citations
Article
Peter B. Thompson;
(2022)
From Gas Hysteria to Nuclear Fear: A Historical Synthesis of Chemical and Atomic Weapons
(/isis/citation/CBB849204996/)
Article
Johnson, Jeffrey Allan;
(2015)
Dilemmas of 19th-century Liberalism among German Academic Chemists: Shaping a National Science Policy from Hofmann to Fischer, 1865--1919
(/isis/citation/CBB001551144/)
Book
Evans, Andrew D.;
(2010)
Anthropology at War: World War I and the Science of Race in Germany
(/isis/citation/CBB001023150/)
Book
Quintero Toro, Camilo;
(2012)
Birds of Empire, Birds of Nation: A History of Science, Economy, and Conservation in United States--Colombia Relations
(/isis/citation/CBB001321260/)
Article
Mouré, Kenneth;
(2015)
La Capitale de la Faim: Black Market Restaurants in Paris, 1940-1944
(/isis/citation/CBB001500569/)
Book
Fraser, Gordon;
(2012)
The Quantum Exodus: Jewish Fugitives, the Atomic Bomb, and the Holocaust
(/isis/citation/CBB001500182/)
Article
Schwartz, Matthias;
(2013)
How Nauchnaia Fantastika Was Made: The Debates about the Genre of Science Fiction from NEP to High Stalinism
(/isis/citation/CBB001201410/)
Article
Andrews, James T.;
(2013)
An Evolving Scientific Public Sphere: State Science Enlightenment, Communicative Discourse, and Public Culture from Imperial Russia to Khrushchev's Soviet Times
(/isis/citation/CBB001320571/)
Chapter
Syon, Guillaume de;
(2013)
Astronauts and Cosmonauts into Frenchmen: Understanding Space Travel through the Popular Weekly Paris Match
(/isis/citation/CBB001201397/)
Article
James J. Harris;
(2020)
The “Tribal Spirit” in Modern Britain: Evolution, Nationality, and Race in the Anthropology of Sir Arthur Keith
(/isis/citation/CBB950685485/)
Article
Wolff, Stefan;
(2007)
Physiker im “Krieg der Geister”----Die “Aufforderung” von Wilhelm Wien
(/isis/citation/CBB001024516/)
Chapter
Siegert, Reinhart;
(2013)
Scientific “Patriotism” between Self-Importance, Self-Recommendation and Camouflage. The Enlightenment Requirement of Public Benefit as Reflected in the Title Pages and Prefaces of Popular Works by Scholars
(/isis/citation/CBB001202277/)
Chapter
Gert Schubring;
(2014)
Mathematics Education in Germany (Modern Times)
(/isis/citation/CBB883548788/)
Article
Ito, Kenji;
(2002)
Values of “Pure Science”: Nishina Yoshio's Wartime Discourse between Nationalism and Physics, 1940-1945
(/isis/citation/CBB000340907/)
Article
Bowler, Peter J.;
(2013)
Popular Science Magazines in Interwar Britain: Authors and Readerships
(/isis/citation/CBB001320568/)
Book
Matthew Stanley;
(2019)
Einstein's War: How Relativity Conquered Nationalism and Shook the World
(/isis/citation/CBB538235042/)
Article
Sinha, Jagdish N.;
(2012)
Role of Scientists in Colonial Bengal
(/isis/citation/CBB001200137/)
Article
Lafferton, Emese;
(2007)
The Magyar Moustache: The Faces of Hungarian State Formation, 1867--1918
(/isis/citation/CBB000831415/)
Book
Klautke, Egbert;
(2013)
The Mind of the Nation: Völkerpsychologie in Germany, 1851--1955
(/isis/citation/CBB001550014/)
Article
Puig, Albert Presas I;
(2010)
Technoscientific Synergies between Germany and Spain in the Twentieth Century: Continuity amid Radical Change
(/isis/citation/CBB000953999/)
Be the first to comment!