Ciência e divulgação científica: reflexões sobre o processo de produção e socialização do saber

This paper presents a discussion of the social functions of scientific knowledge and
its forms of socialization in contemporary society. Scientific knowledge has always
been important for the structuring of societies, but it has progressively gained prominence
in recent years. Drawing out Systemic Functional Linguistics in association with
philosophical and discursive perspectives of scientific popularization, scientific knowledge
and its representations are here inevitably related to political and economical interests, social
contexts and institutional and cultural circumstances. It is argued that science and its forms of appropriation and sharing are far from being socially neutral, influencing
and being influenced by the relations established among the various groups of actors involved
in different ways in the structure of society. Scientific papers and news about
science are two different genres which construe different ways for knowledge circulation
in society, articulating different representations of the social actors involved in the
process of knowledge production and popularization.