Legitimação na Produção Científico-Tecnológica

Abstract

This article is guided by a theoretical discussion on the inclusion of the legitimizing process in the analysis in the field of science and technology. Basically, it emphasizes the possibilities of social control on institutional research and raises new ethical and socio-cultural questions concerning contemporary scientific practices, especially in areas such as biotechnology which opens many fronts for research and addresses new questions related to the manipulation of genetic codes. The article focuses on the problem of the consensus and the articulation among organizations; it also proposes the concepts of "institutional context of scientific and technological production" and "ideology of the practice". Finally, the author shows the high degree of complexity of the legitimizing process concerning wider social questions as well as those concerning the social actors involved in those practices.