Is Citizen Science a Remedy for Inequality?

• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Author: Bruce V. Lewenstein
• Date: 01 March 2022
• DOI: 10.1177/00027162221092697
• Subject Matter: Inequalities

ANNALS, AAPSS, 700, March 2022 183

DOI: 10.1177/00027162221092697

Is Citizen

Science a

Remedy for

Inequality?

By

BRUCE V. LEWENSTEIN

1092697ANN The Annals Of The American AcademyIs citizen science a remedy for inequality?

research-article2022

Is public engagement with science an effective

response to threats against science? One form of public

engagement—citizen science—might be especially

useful for addressing issues of inequality that threaten

public support for science. Citizen science is both pub-

lic participation in the scientific process and public

participation in the governance of science. In principle,

citizen science empowers marginalized communities to

participate in the scientific process, using the authority

of science to challenge government, industry, or other

institutions that exploit imbalances of social power. In

practice, however, citizen science can also be used to

redirect attention away from actions that address ine-

qualities and to reinforce modes of knowledge produc-

tion that exclude alternative ways of knowing relevant

to those without social power. Thus, rhetoric about

citizen science as a solution to threats against science

needs to be tempered with attention to specific con-

texts and opportunities.

Keywords: citizen science; inequality; public engage-

ment with science; trust

“Public engagement” is often presented as a

response to threats against science

(House of Lords 2000). Some defenders of sci-

ence equate public engagement with better

presentation of scientific information to gener-

ate “science literacy” and better public appre-

ciation of the benefits that science provides to

society. Others who are more critical of science’s

claim to universal, objective knowledge also

encourage public engagement, arguing that

involving more people in governance and prac-

tice of science will strengthen it against its own

limitations (Weingart, Joubert, and Connoway

Bruce V. Lewenstein is a professor of science communi-

cation at Cornell University in the Departments of

Communication and of Science & Technology Studies.

Trained as a historian of science, he works across the

field of public communication of science and technol-

ogy, including informal science education, citizen sci-

ence, and communication training for scientists.

Correspondence: b.lewenstein@cornell.edu