Standard Research Grant: Deliberating Nanotechnologies in the US: Gendered Beliefs about Benefits and Risks as Factors in Emerging Public Perception and Participation

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

This interdisciplinary research project co-funded by the Science, Technology, and Society Program; Nanoscale Exploratory Research; and the Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation analyzes how factors of gender and ethnicity shape emergent views of nanoscience, nanoscale materials, and nanotechnologies by the US public in a deliberative setting. As a new and little known class of synthesized materials and devices, nanotechnologies pose an unprecedented case for examining technological beliefs-in-the-making. In the context of federally mandated public participation in nanotech research and development, this project asks how public participants respond to deliberative workshops concerning science and emerging technologies, and in particular, it focuses on the intersecting roles of gender and ethnicity in shaping participants? views and participation in such public forums. The research systematically explores gendered responses in group discussion to issues of technological benefit and risk, governance and responsibility, and societal issues such as equity, privacy, security, job gain and loss, and globalization, from both individual and societal perspectives. A comparative set of 6 public deliberation workshops on emerging nanotechnologies in the US are conducted. The project convenes 3 groups each on 2 specific science and technology applications: nano health technologies and nano energy technologies. The 3 groups are composed of mixed gender, women-only, and men-only participants, with careful attention to ethnicity composition within each group. The mixed group sessions will provide direct longitudinal comparative data with comparable 2007 workshops and hence the ability to track changing public views. The main purpose is to examine the ways that gender operates as a factor to enable or inhibit full participation in such public forums, and how specific workshop design features such as group size, gender and race/ethnicity composition interact. Data analysis methods are qualitative, with systematic content analysis using qualitative data analysis software.