Science with a capital “S”

“Science” has an exclusivity problem: The concept of science capital can help us better understand why.

Close your eyes and picture a scientist. Who springs to mind? Are they in a white labcoat? Are they holding some glassware up to their goggles, staring hard? Are they white? Are they a man? Do they have a beard? Chances are you’ve answered “yes” to the majority of these questions.

Not only does science have an image problem of being male, pale and stale, the stats back this up. Only a fifth of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) workforce are female; Black, minority ethnic men are 28% less likely to pursue a STEM career than their white counterparts; and nearly a third of people who identify as LBGTUA+ opt against a STEM career for fear of discrimination (Faraday Insitute).

Not good and humanity’s current predicament makes this even more of a problem. The world is currently in the grip of debilitating pandemic, much bigger than this is the challenge of climate change and you’ll probably have also heard strong murmurs of future antibiotic resistance and a breakdown in world food supplies?... Apologies for the grim picture of these “wicked problems” but the same group of white men are not going to find the answers alone.

The good news? There are 7.6 billion human brains on this planet to work creatively and collaboratively on the solutions, if - and it’s a biggie - they feel welcome and empowered to do so...

I’ve worked in science engagement for my entire professional career, specifically in the learning and exhibitions teams of science centres and museums. These institutions exist to engage and inspire a broad and crucially, diverse audience with STEM and we’re failing. The demographics of our audiences largely map to the broader pattern of science engagement in wider society - in short, we’re preaching to the choir.

As a profession we know much more about the mechanics of how our work can unintentionally exclude and continue to replicate the status quo thanks to the research of Professor Louise Archer and her teams at UCL. Through a national, longitudinal study over several years they mapped young people’s engagement with STEM to identify which factors shaped their science identity and likelihood of pursuing a STEM career. From this work, the concept of science capital was born. It is similar but statistically distinct from cultural capital.

Louise and her colleagues research demonstrated that the more science-related influences and experiences you can gather, in various spheres of your life, the more being ‘at home’ with science becomes part of your identity, and in the current STEM skill-starved job market, the better life chances and choices you are likely to experience. It won’t surprise you to hear that in general, socially disadvantaged groups tend to have lower science capital.

It made me think about my own ‘capital’. I’ve worked in informal science learning for over a decade. I don’t see myself as a ‘scientist’, or even explicitly a science communicator. I’ve never been a science evangelist, like many drawn to careers in science engagement. I’m not even that motivated by solving the STEM skills-gap. So how have I found myself working for a science museum?!

Well, I do care passionately about people recognising and using their agency to create the world they want to live in - an understanding that the small pebbles they throw out can build and collaborate with others to create BIG waves of change. I have also come to recognise my own privilege and look for positive ways to use and share the power I hold.

The concepts of science and cultural capital ask us to examine the rich tapestry of people’s lives and the societal constructs that govern them. At their heart they are driven by a desire for social justice and equity. As practitioners they ask us to reflect on what we currently do and whose needs and motivations we are not meeting. They require us to be more outward looking, cross disciplinary and to focus on what different people might bring with them to a situation, rather than what they lack. They ask us to view science and the arts beyond the confines of their conventions, as part of people’s wider everyday lives and discover new and intriguing routes to connect with each other.

At its most fundamental “Science” is just a fantastic way of finding out about each other and the world around you. But not the only way... the “Arts” provide a complementary lens... films, music, books, plays and paintings. Aren’t we humans lucky to have such rich and varied culture to draw upon?

Most importantly for me, the concepts of both science and cultural capital encourage us to have kind and positive conversations with each other, starting from a position of abundance rather than scarcity – working together to discover how our lives and ideas might overlap to create new, collaborative narratives for our future. This in itself is both ‘experimental’ and ‘contemporary’, to borrow from the lexicons of the ‘great’ worlds of Science & Art. Wouldn’t it actually be great if more people felt able and welcome to access and shape these cultural products? Maybe that starts by dropping the capital letters ‘S’ and ‘A’ and all the elite connotations and conventions that come with them?

If you strip those away both these constructs are driven by the universal human pursuits of curiosity and creativity and that to me feels a friendlier place to start.

More so than ever I believe that a global society of switched on, engaged and curious citizens will make the world a happier and more sustainable place. I want to create resources which make young families feel confident to navigate and shape the societal constructs that govern our lives. Pebbles that feel inviting to stumble across, hold, examine and throw out into the world, to create the ripples they want to see. Do some science, make some art or should that be... create some science and invent some art?

By grounding my approach in more inclusive and open traits like kindness, curiosity and creativity I hope that I will create resources which are inviting and useful to a greater range of people; artists, scientists, human beings without capital letters but with enough recognition of their power to make the world their own.