Capitalism, Nature of Science and Science Education : Interrogating and Mitigating Threats to Social Justice

We live in an alarmingly unjust world. Oxfam (2019) suggested that about 26 individuals have total wealth equivalent to approximately 3.8 billion people. Meanwhile, particularly for poorer societal members, many personal, social and environmental harms are accumulating — perhaps most notably those linked to climate disruption, but also human illnesses, privacy invasions, devastation from armed conflict, habitat destruction, species losses and many others. Among possible causes, there is much evidence and argument to suggest that the world’s richest people are largely culpable. Critical to their hegemony, in turn, are fields of science and technology. Rather than conceiving of characteristics of such fields through relatively narrow philosophical lenses, however, it appears necessary to think of them as interwoven with myriad societal and environmental entities — and perhaps more importantly, as key elements of strategic networks of phenomena supporting elite societal members. Accordingly, in democratic societies, citizens need enlightenment about such networks and, moreover, education enabling them to actively address injustices concerning them. Such educational goals are explored in this chapter, partly in light of narratives we provide of approaches in school science and science teacher education that may serve as useful resources for advancing social justice and environmental health goals.

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