Scientific Knowledge in Regards to Social and Politics Arena - Essay Example

Scientific Knowledge in Regards to Social and Politics Arena Ethnography looks in detail the human social environment. On the other hand, knowledge is the ability of an individual to familiarize with a certain skill as a result of his/her expertise. Power is the ability to become influential and have dominion over something or someone especially governments. Therefore, acquisition of knowledge in a certain field may result in the ability to influence and control views and perceptions of others. Scientific knowledge has existed since the early times of mankind. It has been incorporated into the social and political life of man and has influenced a lot of decisions made in every society. Scientific knowledge has grown to become the backbone to human survival and a remedy to various problems in both the social and political arena. Scientific knowledge has been used as a valuable tool by various governments to dominate over other countries with less experience on similar inventions, such as, manufacture of nuclear weapons. Since every country in the world seeks power over another, a lot has been invested into scientific knowledge in terms of financial support to ensure the creation these plants and weapons. In western countries, science has changed the political power because of the power within it (Gusterson 14).This clearly indicates that scientific knowledge has contributed to political actions whereby governments of developed countries dominate over others. Moreover, scientific knowledge can be claimed to be a source of power due to the discoveries it has contributed to human society. In both political and social arena, scientific knowledge has helped a lot. It has led to the discovery of solutions to mitigate or control health related diseases in the social realm. Scientific understanding has been acknowledged in many countries as a source of breakthrough to human-related issues. Research institutions have been raised up in different areas and scientists work day and night to come up with solutions associated to human society. Therefore, scientific knowledge has changed the way mankind goes on with his/her daily life by coming up with inventions or answers to alleviate threats to human life. This can be observed after the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine; scientific researchers shape the social and political life of the victims and the nation. Scientific knowledge was incorporated in coming up with ways of solving and assisting the victims of the nuclear plant that exploded in Ukraine. Neighboring regions such as Belarus although do not give much support to the scientific knowledge, the political and social life of the Belarus government and people relied on science to remedy the nuclear-related problems (Petryna 6). Nevertheless, scientific knowledge has influenced the political action in many nations to date. Governments have used scientific knowledge to control and manipulate the society they govern since they are in the position to acquire first-hand information about a certain issue. This ability promotes the likelihood of the government to be relied on by its people in terms of information provision and addressing various issues that may arise. All this it traced back to the level of scientific knowledge in that society. It can be observed that after the Chernobyl disaster, the government of the Soviet Union had the knowledge about the radioactive and radiations emitted by the explosion (Petryna 34). However, the citizens new nothing about the accident since they were been kept in the darkness. But moments later, the government is found to have informed its people of the consequences and tried to come up with measures to address the plight of the victims of Chernobyl explosion. Scientific knowledge was referred to by the government to assist the victims and cases that had been reported of mutated individuals around that area. (Petryna, 35). Furthermore, science has been the core of human survival since the 18th-century up-to-date (Petryna 14). Scientific knowledge has been used in many social and political arenas to make decisions that relate to the wellbeing of individuals in the populace. This means that knowledge in science has led to the disclosure of some relevant information to the society. Since many political controllers, for example, the government, have total access to this scientific knowledge; they use this privilege to their advantage over the livelihood of their people. In order not to lose power and have control over its people, many governments may have the knowledge about a particular disaster or calamity and keep it classified. This is to avoid losing control over its people or their influence capability. This can be evidenced by the Ukrainian disaster that left many people exposed to nuclear radiation due to lack of information conveyed by the government. Although scientists knew of the aftermath of such a disaster, their knowledge was taken by the government to protect themselves from losing trust (Petryna 15). Knowledge is an essential element in life; being in possession of it could nonetheless give one immense power in the society. In the ancient days, having knowledge was perceived as having significant “equipment.” It was seen to belong only to the elite in the society, and all the other people seemed to be subjects to these people. Knowledgeable men and women were admired and held key positions in the society, and thus they influenced various decisions made by the rulers in the early centuries. For instance, judges and religious leaders were considered as highly educated individuals. Whatever decision they made was taken in seriously (Foucault, 258-261). Due to this notion, they had the power to influence the right of life or death for lesser individuals. Moreover, scientific knowledge was regarded as an essential instrument in controlling both political and social action. Reports show that it science gave rise to bio-politics that manipulated the social well-being of individuals in the society. Through medical discoveries, scientific knowledge became a “powerhouse” for many governments to control of their people up to the current century. It brought forth the age of bio-power which has been used to control the society activities. Bio-power meant that the number of deaths would reduce since life could be managed through issuance of medicine, and improved public health institutions in place. According to Foucault (282-284), scientific knowledge has power to give rise to drug discoveries. This power to such findings is one of the ways used by political bodies to offer social control assistance. Scientific knowledge could be used in the field of epidemiology to equip the practitioners with power to influence the well-being of the community at large. In conclusion, scientific knowledge has shaped the political and social “arena” in many ways. This knowledge has had both positive and negative impacts to the livelihood of mankind. It has made the relationship between the states and populaces deteriorate. The two ethnographies have drawn the link and role played by scientific knowledge to influence the actions of political instruments and the well-being of the social “arena.” Works Cited Hugh Gusterson. Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the Cold War. University of California Press, 1998. Petryna Adriana. Life Exposed: Biological Citizens After Chernobyl. Princeton University Press, 2002. Read More