'The Public Spectre': A Critical Concept of Public Engagement with Technology

Kim Sune Karrasch Jepsen; Margareta Bertilsson; Ana Delgado

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-32414-2_2

'The Public Spectre': A Critical Concept of Public Engagement with Technology

Kim Sune Karrasch Jepsen, Margareta Bertilsson, Ana Delgado

Department of Sociology

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper is concerned with how forms of publics come into being in situations of technological innovation and change. The paper attends to sudden social formations which arise as responses to what is perceived of as threatening socio-technical inventions into the routine of everyday social life. We revisit the Dewey-Lippmann debate, and we look at spontaneous citizens’ reactions towards emerging technologies such as Google Street View as well as we discuss some institutionally organized events of public engagement with science. As we explore the formation of publics inside and outside various institutional contexts, we suggest a concept of mobilizing unexpected agencies that we call the public spectre. Crowds emerge spontaneously, and assume the figure of a ‘public spectre’ that resides in the unforeseen. When repeated as collective events, crowds stabilize and assume the figure of publics. The notion of the public as a spectre draws attention to the plurality of forms in terms of which publics emerge and take form.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Technoscience and Citizenship : Ethics and Governance in the Digital Society
Editors	Ana Delgado
Number of pages	13
Volume	17
Place of Publication	Switzerland
Publisher	Springer
Publication date	2016
Pages	17-30
Chapter	2
ISBN (Electronic)	978-3-319-32414-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32414-2_2
Publication status	Published - 2016

Series	The International Library of Ethics, Law and Technology
Volume	17
ISSN	1875-0044

Keywords

Faculty of Social Sciences
Public spectre
Social formations
– Governance of science and technology
Radical democracy

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10.1007/978-3-319-32414-2_2

Cite this

'The Public Spectre': A Critical Concept of Public Engagement with Technology. / Jepsen, Kim Sune Karrasch ; Bertilsson, Margareta; Delgado, Ana.
Technoscience and Citizenship: Ethics and Governance in the Digital Society. ed. / Ana Delgado. Vol. 17 Switzerland: Springer, 2016. p. 17-30 (The International Library of Ethics, Law and Technology, Vol. 17).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review

Jepsen, KSK , Bertilsson, M & Delgado, A 2016, 'The Public Spectre': A Critical Concept of Public Engagement with Technology. in A Delgado (ed.), Technoscience and Citizenship: Ethics and Governance in the Digital Society. vol. 17, Springer, Switzerland, The International Library of Ethics, Law and Technology, vol. 17, pp. 17-30. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32414-2_2

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AB - This paper is concerned with how forms of publics come into being in situations of technological innovation and change. The paper attends to sudden social formations which arise as responses to what is perceived of as threatening socio-technical inventions into the routine of everyday social life. We revisit the Dewey-Lippmann debate, and we look at spontaneous citizens’ reactions towards emerging technologies such as Google Street View as well as we discuss some institutionally organized events of public engagement with science. As we explore the formation of publics inside and outside various institutional contexts, we suggest a concept of mobilizing unexpected agencies that we call the public spectre. Crowds emerge spontaneously, and assume the figure of a ‘public spectre’ that resides in the unforeseen. When repeated as collective events, crowds stabilize and assume the figure of publics. The notion of the public as a spectre draws attention to the plurality of forms in terms of which publics emerge and take form.

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'The Public Spectre': A Critical Concept of Public Engagement with Technology

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