Biotechnology and social learning: An empirical analysis of the Dutch Animal Biotechnology Act

Albert Jacob Meijer and Frans W.A. Brom

Technology in Society, 2009, vol. 31, issue 1, 117-124

Abstract: Animal biotechnology raises moral dilemmas that require collective decisions concerning permitted use of technology. The technological and ethical complexity of biotechnology makes such collective decisions difficult and the lack of shared understanding of the moral implications demands social learning. The Minister for Agriculture in the Netherlands has created a legislative arrangement to enable collective learning about animal biotechnology. Has this legislation been successful? We conclude that initially the legislation succeeded in creating an arena for debate and collective learning, but soon learning in this arena was hindered by the legal nature of the arena. Our evaluation demonstrates that little substantive learning has taken place: standpoints have become fixed and antagonists continue to dispute one another in legal discourse. Though legal discourse may be suitable for dealing with conflicts, it seems to hinder social learning.

Keywords: Biotechnology; Social learning; Government policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X08000663
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:teinso:v:31:y:2009:i:1:p:117-124

DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2008.10.008

Access Statistics for this article

Technology in Society is currently edited by Charla Griffy-Brown

More articles in Technology in Society from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().