Creation science is the target of much attack these days from both within and outside the orthodox scientific community. However, this text does not provide an attack on creationism - nor a defence. The author's interest is not in creationism, but rather, it is in the questions of the role and significance of science in modernity or the public understanding of science. Locke's approach to this issue is a discursive and rhetorical one. Creationism is treated as a case study of the argumentative engagement between science and non-science which - in his view - is as central to the commonsense...

In Constructing the Beginning, Simon Locke offers a new approach to considering the enigma of creation science, using the perspective of discourse analysis. Using the publications of the British Creation Science Movement to perform a detailed analysis of the creationist case, Locke demonstrates that the discourses and rhetorics used by natural and social scientists are also employed by non-scientists. Out of this study, a view of science as a cultural resource develops, questioning the adequacy of perceived sociological wisdom that sees science as the source and emmbodiment of cultural...

This book presents a series of cutting edge research studies in the field of public understanding of science, with particular focus on aspects of informal science education. In addition to providing up-to-date overviews of current thinking about how best to conceptualise the field, it offers a range of primary research studies examining informal public venues of science and mediations of scientific knowledge and representation. With contributions from some leading international researchers, the book provides discussions and case studies addressing the USA, UK and Europe, Africa and India,...