Many films, artworks and novels express popular concerns about these developments. In a society where icons of progress are drawn from science, technology and medicine, they are either celebrated or demonised. Often their progress is feared as 'unnatural', while their critics are labelled 'irrational'. Public concerns are rebuffed by ostensibly value-neutral experts and positivist polemics. Yet the culture of science is open to study like any other culture.
Cultural studies analyses the role of expertise throughout society.
Many journals address the history, philosophy and social studies of science, its popularisation, and the public understanding of society. Amidst these journals, Science as Culture is 'the only source of critique of the way science is going', as one of our readers put it. Not simply criticism, critique analyses the underlying frameworks, assumptions and terms of reference. The articles are readable, attractive, lively, often humorous, and always jargon-free. In recent times, the social effects of scientific discoveries and inventions have been so earth-shaking that a large number of journals has arisen, occupied by the social consequences of the natural sciences.