Theoretical and Analytical Framework

Abstract

The previous chapter talked about the importance of promoting civic engagement with science-related issues and described different perspectives on what popular science writing should do. These perspectives are rooted in different understandings of what science is, how it works, and what its relationships with society should be like. This chapter expands on those differences, explaining their social and philosophical underpinnings, moving from the general to the specific. It begins by talking about philosophy of science;¹ creating socially robust knowledge requires an understanding of science that accounts for its connections to and roles in society, an understanding provided by a social constructionist view of science that Bauer et al. have dubbed ‘Realist—Skepticism’ (Bauer et al., ‘Public’). Next it discusses rhetorical genre theory as a way to understand texts as discursive objects, then it describes the specific analytic framework I use to identify relevant characteristics of popular science writing in specific texts. Finally, it explains my text selections.