Histories of Scientific Responsibility in Japan and the United Kingdom

We historicize talk of social responsibility in relation to science and technology. By charting the multiple and contested notions of responsibility that scientists have espoused from the early twentieth century to the present, we show how scientists have used the word strategically, at different times and in different contexts, to project their preferred views of how science should relate to wider society. Comparing Japan and the UK enables us to highlight both the context-specific meanings that scientists have associated with responsibility, and the way that such meanings have come into conversation with one another. By so doing, it also helps us think about the purpose and implications of current and emerging configurations of “responsible” research and innovation—including how those configurations may shield scientists from certain kinds of responsibility while embracing others.