Abstract
AbstractRecent research in Science and Technology Studies (STS) and related fields has scrutinized UK policy institutions’ governance of technical policy domains, revealing the prevalence of naïve assumptions about citizens’ engagement with science and technology. Government officials are characterized as wedded to institutional commitments and averse to criticism. From that perspective, technical policy issues such as energy and climate change are addressed without the sufficient interrogation of assumptions about citizens. This study, based on an analysis of 15 interviews with civil servants and over 40 documents (including evidence reviews, policy reports, stakeholder publications and parliamentary records), presents a more varied picture within the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) during the years of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition Government (2010–2015). It focuses on two priority policy areas of the time: the Green Deal and the installation of smart meters in UK homes. It is shown that government social researchers in DECC have aided policy officials to rethink their understandings of citizens. Social researchers have achieved this through their institutionalized commitment to providing an evidence-based “challenge function”. I conclude that policy development on technical topics is more likely to be effective if policy officials engage with social researchers at an early stage, and if social researchers receive senior civil service representation and support. This article is published as part of a collection on scientific advice to governments.
Highlights
For many years, researchers in STS have raised concerns with western governments’ engagement with scientific advice in policy areas relating to science and technology
This study reports findings from a project that explores the role of government social researchers in Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
As we may have expected given the literature, the inclusion of social researchers in these policy areas was predicated on instrumental rationales, rather than a commitment to encourage reflection on how citizens are imagined (Wynne, 1993; Chilvers and Macnaghten, 2011; Pallett and Chilvers, 2013)
Summary
Researchers in STS have raised concerns with western governments’ engagement with scientific advice in policy areas relating to science and technology. This article nuances the picture somewhat, by elucidating a previously unexamined means by which scientistic and technologically determinist assumptions have been influentially challenged within the UK’s civil service. It does this by exploring how civil servants have conceived and operationalized the idea of a “challenge function” with respect to the role of social science expertise in the Department of Energy and Climate Change, during the years of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government (2010–2015).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
