Values in Science Communication Models

Public science communication plays a crucial role in structuring the relationship between science and society. Its varying portrayals and expectations of scientists, communicators, and the public reflect evolving ideals about values in science. Through science communication's attribution of epistemic authority, how it directs communication, the types of engagement it facilitates, and how it delegates responsibility, it determines what and whose values are communicated. This chapter explores how the conceptual and pragmatic features of different types of science communication—ranging from the traditional deficit model to the more inclusive frameworks of the public participation model and participant-led research—illustrate shifting normative assumptions about the elicitation and integration of values into scientific practice. Attending to these approaches is important for understanding how values are exchanged between science and society, which can have implications for broader issues such as public trust in science, science in democracies, and the development of new social contracts for science. Readers may be interested in these Handbook chapters as well: Maya J. Goldenberg, “Controversies in Vaccine Policy”; Daniel Steel, “Tragedy or Transition? How Science and Values Matter for Climate Change Frames.”