Swinging between responsibility and rationality – Science policy and technology visions in India

Abstract

In recent debates on normativity in Technology Assessment (Delvenne et al. 2019; Grunwald 1999), a major emerging argument relates to the idea that TA is inherently normative and should embrace normative aspects, rather than aim for an unrealistic neutrality (Delvenne/Parotte 2019; Lucivero et al. 2019). Because of the aims it tries to achieve and the methods it employs, this implies in practice that TA is already acting on normative principles, such as the commitment to democratic values and the inclusion of diverse perspectives (Grunwald 2019; Hennen/Nierling 2019). The need of the hour, accordingly, is to be reflexive about these normativities to better utilize them for effective and more impactful policy-making (Delvenne et al. 2019). Another major discussion within the TA community is about the effectiveness of these values in engaging with the challenges of contemporary world. A lot has been said about contested values such as neutrality and inclusion in the context of western countries (Hennen/Nierling 2019). Challenges become even more prominent in the context of the global south, where multiple knowledge systems coexist and cultural diversity is accompanied by social inequality and informality. However, in these countries, TA as a part of the formal mechanism to engage with technology and society remains hugely understudied from a critical point of view. Either formal TA is not employed in global south settings at all or it is directly transported from the west and super-imposed as a prefixed model. Thus, a situated, contextspecific and critical analysis of values employed through TA approaches in the global south is necessary. In this paper, we will critically engage with normative aspects as employed in TA in the Indian context. Are there values that remain hidden and get neglected? How do dominant norms create or deter a space for more pluralistic decision-making? How do the dominant values promoted at the theoretical level become implemented in real situations? As a heuristic tool, we will discuss values circulated through the ideals of rationality and responsibility in TA debates in India. A detailed discussion on rationality and 1