Professor Martin Bauer

In September 1994 I joined the LSE where I am closely involved with Social Psychology and the Methodology Institute|.

Before that I had graduated in Psychology and Economic History [Bern & Zurich] and worked briefly for NCR Switzerland in office automation, but then decided to do a PhD in Social Psychology [PhD, LSE].

As a Research Fellow at the Science Museum London, I spent a great part of 1993 at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris, and I teach regularly in Brazil (in Alegre and Campinas).  

My research focuses on the changing science-society relations. Among other things, this change shows itself in public controversies of science and technology (STePS). This leads to topics like resistance in social processes, public opinion, science communication and literacy, social representations and attitudes of science and technology, in particular modern biotechnology, but also nuclear power, global warming and other controversial topics.

The key question of the STePS research group is: how does public opinion evolve and impact on socio-technical developments? In that context I organized two significant conferences: in 1993 on 'Resistance to New Technology' at the Science Museum in London, and in 2007 on 'Science and the Public – towards cultural indicators' at the Royal Society of London. STePS also hosts the monthly London Public Understanding of Science Seminar, and since April 2009 I edit the international peer-reviewed journal with that name.

I retain an active interest in activity psychology with topics like job design, motivation, emotion & stress, resistance to change, organisational learning, and in methodological issues of content analysis, corpus construction, computer-assisted text analysis, and n=1 research, experience sampling and 'bemetology'.  

Currently I am directing the MSc Social and Public Communication and convene and and teach with colleagues several courses:

PS438 Corporate Communication

PS439 Science, Technology and Resistance

Mi454 Qualitative Research: Interview, Text and Image

Mi554 Advanced Qualitative Analysis Workshops

I contribute the occasional lecture to other courses like PS400 , PS404 , PS410, PS429, PS438, Mi453, and in BIOS.

Recent Article

The science culture industry and its impacts, for La Stampa, Italy; version 27 January 2010. Read|

Technical reports

Bauer MW|, Susan Howard (2009), The Sense of Crisis among Science Journalists. Read||

Bauer MW & S Howard (2009) Public Understanding of Science in Italy: 1989 – 2995. An LSE STePS report for OBSERVA-Italy & LSE Enterprise, March 2009

Bauer MW, R Shukla & N Allum (2007) International indicators of science and the Public. Technical summary of the proceedings of an international workshop held at the Royal Society 5/6 November 2007, London, LSE; Read|

Shukla R & MW Bauer (2007) The Science Culture Index (SCI): construction and validation, London and Delhi, LSE & NCAER, September [51pp]

Bauer MW & S Howard et al (2004) Biotechnology and the Public [Media module] – Europe, North America and Japan, 1973-2002. Integrated Codebook, LSE-report, May 2004.

Bauer M, J Durant, A Ragnarsdottir, Annadis Rudolfsdottir (1995) Science and technology in the British press, 1946-1992, The Media Monitor Project, Vol 1-4, Technical Report, London, Science Museum and Wellcome Trust for the History of Medicine.

Bauer M, G Gaskell, J Durant (1994) Biotechnology and the European Public. An international study of policy, media coverage and public perceptions, 1980 –1996 [Hydra paper], June.

Bauer M (1993) Francophone research on popular(izing) science. A commented bibliography, 1960-1992, MSH Paris and Science Museum London, September.

Bauer, M. and J. Durant (1991) Surveys on Public Understanding of Science - a statement of principles and an agenda for future research, National Science Foundation, Washington, London, July.

Books

Journalism, Science & Society: Science Communication between news making and public relations, (London, Routledge, 2007 [with M Bucchi].

Genomic & Society: legal, ethics and social dimension, (London, Earthscan, 2006, with G Gaskell) ISBN-10 1-84407-113-8

Biotechnology - the making of a global controversy (Cambridge, CUP, 2002, with G Gaskell)

Pesquisa qualitativa con texto, imagem e som, (Petropolis Brazil, Editora VOZES, 2002, with G Gaskell; other translations in Chinese and Hebrew)

Biotechnology 1996-2000 - the years of controversy (London, Science Museum, 2001, with G Gaskell)

Qualitative researching with text, image and sound - a practical handbook (London, Sage, 2000, with G Gaskell)

Biotechnology in Public - A European source book (London, Science Museum, 1998; with J Durant & G Gaskell)

Resistance to new Technology - nuclear power, information technology and biotechnology (Cambridge, CUP, 1995)

Papers

Bauer MW and G Gaskell (2008) Social representations theory: a progressive research programme for Social Psychology, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 38, 4, 335-354.

Bauer MW (2008) Social influence by artefacts, DIOGENE, 217, Vol 55, issue 1, 68-83.

Bauer MW (2007) Le fait accompli et son influence sociale, DIOGENE,  217 (January), 79-101. [Special issue: persuasion et influence sociale] UNESCO, Paris

Bauer MW (2007) The public career of 'genes' – trends in public sentiment from 1946 to 2002, New Genetics and Society, 26,1, 29-45.

Bauer MW, N Allum, and S Miller (2007) What have we learnt from 25 years of PUS research – liberating and widening the agenda, Public Understanding of Science, 15,1, 79-96.

Bauer MW (2006) The vicissitudes of Public Understanding of Science: from literacy to Science in Society, Science Popularisation (China), 10, 14-22. (reprint C40 of 2004)

Bauer MW (2006) Garantindo os beneficios de uma moratoria. Lavouras transgenicas no Brasil – espicalmente a de soja (1995-2004), PLENARIUM – Camara dos Deputados, 3, no3 (September), 216-243. Read|

Bauer MW, Petkova K, P Boyadjieva, G Gornev (2006) Long-term trends in the representations of science across the iron curtain: Britain and Bulgaria, 1946-95, Social Studies of Science, 36, 1, 97-129 [ISSN 0306-3127]

Bauer MW (2005) The mass media and the biotechnology controversy, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 17 (1), 5-22 [special issue] [ISSN – 0954-2892]

Bauer MW (2005) Distinguishing GREEN from RED biotechnology – cultivation effects of the elite press, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 17 (1), 63-89 [special issue] ] [ISSN – 0954-2892]

Gaskell G, N Allum, MW Bauer, J Jackson, S Howard, N Lindzey (2003) Climate change for biotechnology? UK public opinion 1991-2002, AgBioForum, 6 (1&2), 55-66.

Bauer M (2003) Analisis de textos asistidos con programas computacionales, Subjetividad y Procesos Cognitivos, 3, 101-112 [Argentina ISSN 1666-244X]

Bauer MW (2002) Arenas, platforms and the biotechnology movement, Science Communication, 24, 144-161. [ISSN 1075 –5470]

Bauer MW (2002) Controversial medical and agri-food biotechnology: a cultivation analysis, Public Understanding of Science, 2, 11, 1-19. [ISSN 0963-6625]

Howard S and M W Bauer (2001) Psychology in the UK Press, 1988 to 1999, The Psychologist, 14 (12), 632-636 [BPS centenary 1901-2001] [ISSN 0952-8229].

Bauer MW (2001) Biotechnology: Ethical Framing in the Elite Press, Noticie di Politeia, 17 (63), 51-66 [Italy, ISSN 1128-2401].

Gaskell G, N Allum, MW Bauer, J Durant et al (2000) Biotechnology and the European Public, Nature Biotechnology, Sept, Vol 18, 935-38. [ISSN 1078-0156/04]

Bauer MW, Petkova K, P Boyadjewa (2000) Public knowledge of and attitudes to science - alternative measures, Science, Technology and Human Values, 25, 1, 30-51.

Bauer M W and G Gaskell (1999) Towards a paradigm for research on social representations, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 29 (2), 163-186. [ISSN – 0021-8308]

G Gaskell, Bauer MW, J Durant, NC Allum (1999) Worlds apart? The reception of genetically modified food in Europe and the United States, Science, 285, July 16, 384-87.

Bauer M (1998) The medicalisation of science news: from the 'rocket-scalpel' to the 'gene-meteorite' complex, Social Science Information, 37, 731-751. [ISSN 0539-0184]

Bauer M (1998) Die moderne Gentechnik und die oeffentliche Meinung, Civitas- Monatsschrift fuer Politik und Kultur, 53, 3/4, 48-55 [Switzerland] [ISSN 1021-5980]

Bauer M & J Durant (1997) Astrology in present day Britain: an approach from the sociology of knowledge, Cosmos and Culture - Journal of the History of Astrology and Cultural Astronomy, 1, 1-17 [ISSN 1368-6534]

Bauer M. with G Gaskell & J Durant et al. (1997) Europe ambivalent on biotechnology, Nature, 387, 345-347 (June)

Bauer M and H Joffe (1996) The `I don't know' response in social research - meanings of self-attributed ignorance, Social Science Information, 35,1, 6-13 [editorial to special issue] [ISSN 0539-0184]

Bauer M (1996) Socio-economic correlates of DK-responses in knowledge surveys, Social Science Information, 35,1, 39-68 [ISSN 0539-0184]

Bauer M and A Ragnarsdottir (1996) A new resource for science communication studies, Public Understanding of Science, 5, 55-57. [ISSN 0963-6625]

Bauer M, J Durant and G Evans (1994) European public perceptions of science, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 6, 2, 163-186 [ISSN – 0954-2892]

Bauer, M and I Schoon (1993a) Mapping variety in Public Understanding of Science, Public Understanding of Science, 2, 2, 141-155. [ISSN 0963-6625]

Bauer, M. (1991) Resistance to change - a monitor of new technology, Systems Practice, 4, 3, 181-196

Bauer, M.(1987) 'Widerstand gegen Veraenderung', AGOGIK,4,16-25. [ISSN 0257-1757]

Book chapters

Bauer MW, Petkova K, P Boyadjieva, G Gornev (2008) Long-term trends in the representations of science across the iron curtain: Britain and Bulgaria, 1946-95, in: Franzosi R (ed) Content Analysis, London, Sage Benchmarks in Social Research Methods [ISBN: 9781412933995] [reprint of P28, 2006]

Bauer MW (2008) Survey research and the public understanding of science, in: M Bucchi & B Trench (eds) Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology, London, Routledge, p111-130.

Bauer MW (2008) Paradigm chance for Science Communication: Commercial Science needs a Critical Public, in: D Cheng, M Claessens, T Gascoigne, J Metcalfe, B Schiele, S Shi (eds) Science Communication in Social Context, New York, PCST/Springer, chapter 1, p7-25.

Bauer MW (2007) Media monitoring (section 2.3.2), in: WHO Europe (ed) Risk perception and communication; setting the agenda for the 5^th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, 2009; report of a WHO expert meeting, Venice, San Servolo, 29030 May 2006, p20-21. Read|

Bauer MW & J Gregory (2007) From journalism to corporate communication in post-war Britain, in: Bauer MW & M Bucchi (ed) Science, Journalism and Society: Science Communication Between News and Public Relations, London, Routledge, p33-52

Bauer MW (2006) Come i media hanno alimentato la distinzione tra biotecnologie rosse e verdi, in: M Bucchi & F Neresini (eds) Cellule e cittadini – biotecnologie nelle spazio pubblico, Milano, SIRONI editore, pp123-140 [ISBN 88-518-0065-0] [translation of P20].

Bauer MW (2006) The paradoxes of resistance in Brazil, in: Gaskell G & M Bauer (eds) Genomic &  Society: legal, ethical and social dimension, London, Earthscan, p228-249

Bauer MW & J Gutteling J (2006) Salience and framing of modern biotechnology in the elite press, 1973-2002, in: Gaskell G & M Bauer (eds) (2005) Genomic &  Society: legal, ethical and social dimension, London, Earthscan, p113-130.

Bauer MW, S Howard, V Hagenhoff, G Gasperoni & Maria Rusanen (2006) The BSE and CJD crisis in the press, in: C Dora (ed) Health, Hazard and Public Debate: Lessons for Risk Communication from the BSE/CJD saga, Geneva, WHO, 125-164 [chapter 6]. [ISBN 92 890 1070 3]

Dowler E, J Green, MW Bauer, G Gasperoni (2006) Assessing public perceptions: issues and methods, in: C Dora (ed) Health, Hazard and Public Debate: Lessons for Risk Communication from the BSE/CJD saga, Geneva, WHO, 40-60 [chapter 3]

Bauer MW (2004) Long-term trends in public sensitivities about genetic identification: 1973-2002, in: Gardar Árnason and Salvör Nordal (eds) Blood and Data - Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects of Human Genetic Databases, Reykjavik: University of Iceland Press 2004, p143-161 (chapter 16).

Bauer MW (2004) The vicissitudes of 'public understanding of science': from 'literacy' to 'science in society', in: Science meets Society, Lisbon, Gulbenkian Foundation, p37-63.

U Flick & M Bauer (2004) Teaching qualitative research, in: Flick U, E vonKardoff & I Steinke (eds) A Companion to Qualitative Research, London, Sage, 340-49 [translation from German 2000].

Gregory J & M W Bauer (2003) PUS Inc.: l'avenir de la communication de la science, in: B Schiele & R Jantzen (eds) Les Territoires de la Culture Scientifique, Montreal & Lyon, Press Universitaire de Lyon, chapter 2, 41-65 [ISBN 2-7297-0735-2].

Bauer MW (2002) A Retorica do Fracasso – as pesquisas eleitorais de 2002 no Rio Grande do Sul, in: Guareschi PA (ed) Uma nova communicao e possivel, midia, etica e politica, Porto Alegre, Evangraf, 48-63.

Bauer MW and G Gaskell (2002) Researching the public sphere of biotechnology, in: Bauer MW & G Gaskell (eds) Biotechnology – the making of a global controversy, Cambridge, CUP, 1-20.

Bauer MW and G Gaskell (2002) The biotechnology movement, in: Bauer MW & G Gaskell (eds) Biotechnology – the making of a global controversy, Cambridge, CUP, 379-404.

Bauer MW & H Bonfadelli (2002) Controversy, media coverage and public knowledge, in: Bauer, MW & G Gaskell (eds) Biotechnology – the making of a global controversy, Cambridge, CUP, 149-175.

Gutteling J, A Olofsson, B Fjaestsad, M Kohring, A Goerke, M W Bauer et al (2002) Media coverage 1973-96: trends and dynamics, in: Bauer MW & G Gaskell (eds) Biotechnology – the making of a global controversy, Cambridge, CUP, 95-128.

Allum, N, D Boy & MW Bauer (2002) European regions and the knowledge deficit model, in: Bauer MW & G Gaskell (eds) Biotechnology – the making of a global controversy, Cambridge, CUP, 224-243.

Einsiedel E, A Allansdottir, N Allum, MW Bauer et al. (2002) Brave new sheep – the clone named Dolly, in: Bauer MW & G Gaskell (eds) Biotechnology – the making of a global controversy, Cambridge, CUP, 313-350.

G Gaskell, M W Bauer, N Allum, N Lindsey, J Durant & J Leuginger (2001) United Kingdom: spilling the beans on genes, in: G Gaskell & MW Bauer (eds) Biotechnology 1996-2000 – the years of controversy, London, Science Museum, 292-306.

G Gaskell, H Torgersen, N Allum, MW Bauer (2001) Biotechnology, techno-science and the public sphere, in: G Gaskell & MW Bauer (eds) Biotechnology 1996-2000 – the years of controversy, London, ScienceMuseum, 116-127.

G Gaskell, N Allum, W Wagner, T H Nielsen, E Jelsoe, M Kohring & MW Bauer (2001) In the public eye: representations of biotechnology in Europe, in: G Gaskell & MW Bauer (eds) Biotechnology 1996-2000 – the years of controversy, London, Science Museum, 53-79.

G Gaskell & M W Bauer (2001) Biotechnology in the years of controversy – a social scientific perspective, in: G Gaskell & MW Bauer (eds) Biotechnology 1996-2000 – the years of controversy, London, Science Museum, 3-14.

Bauer MW, M Kohring, J Gutteling & A Allansdottir (2001) The dramatisation of biotechnology in the elite mass media, in: G Gaskell & MW Bauer (eds) Biotechnology 1996-2000 – the years of controversy, London, Science Museum, 35-52.

Bauer MW (2001) "Risiko oder Ethik? Vergleichendes zur Öffentlichkeit der Gentechnik." In: M Weber und P Hoyningen-Huene (Hg.), Ethische Probleme in den Biowissenschaften. Heidelberg, Synchron Wissenschaftsverlag, 149-168.Flick U and MW Bauer (2000) Qualitative Forschung lehren. in: Flick, U., Kardorff, E.v. & Steinke, I. (eds.) Qualitative Forschung - Ein Handbuch. Reinkek: Rowohlt Taschenbuchverlag - series rowohlt enzklopädie, 600-14.

Bauer MW, G Gaskell, N Allum (2000) Quantity, quality and knowledge interests: avoiding confusions, in; Bauer M & G Gaskell (eds) Qualitative researching with text, image and sound: a practical handbook, London, Sage, 3-17.

Bauer MW & B Aarts (2000) Corpus construction: a principle for qualitative data collection, in: Bauer M & G Gaskell (eds) Qualitative researching with text, image and sound: a practical handbook, London, Sage, 19-37

Bauer MW (2000) Analysing noise and music as social data, in: Bauer M & G Gaskell (eds) Qualitative researching with text, image and sound: a practical handbook, London, Sage, 263-280.

Jovchelovitch S and MW Bauer (2000) Narrative interviewing, in: Bauer M & G Gaskell (eds) Qualitative researching with text, image and sound: a practical handbook, London, Sage, 57-74.

Bauer MW (2000) Classical content analysis: a review, in: Bauer M & G Gaskell (eds) Qualitative researching with text, image and sound: a practical handbook, London, Sage, 131-151.

Gaskell G and MW Bauer (2000) Towards public accountability: beyond sampling, reliability and validity, Bauer M & G Gaskell (eds) Qualitative researching with text, image and sound: a practical handbook, London, Sage, 336-350.

Bauer M (2000) 'Science in the media' as cultural indicator: contextualising surveys with media analysis, in: Dierkes M and C von Grote (eds) Between understanding and trust: the public, science and technology, Reading, Harwood Academics Publisher, 157-178.

Durant J, Bauer M, C Midden, G Gaskell, and M Liakopoulos (2000) Two cultures of public understanding of science, in: Dierkes M and C von Grote (eds) Between understanding and trust: the public, science and technology, Reading, Harwood Academics Publisher, 131-156.

Gaskell G, M W Bauer & J Durant (1998) The representation of biotechnology: policy, media and public perception, in: J Durant, M Bauer & G Gaskell (eds) Biotechnology in the public sphere: a European source book, Science Museum Publications, 3-14.

Gaskell G, M W Bauer & J Durant (1998) Public perceptions of biotechnology in 1996: Eurobarometer 46.1, in: J Durant, M Bauer & G Gaskell (eds) Biotechnology in the public sphere: a European source book, Science Museum Publications, 189-214.

Bauer, M, J Durant, G Gaskell, M Liakopoulos & E Bridgman (1998) United Kingdom – a national profile, in: J Durant, M Bauer & G Gaskell (eds) Biotechnology in the public sphere: a European source book, Science Museum Publications, 162-176 [ISBN 1-900747-09 X].

Bauer, M, G Gaskell & J Durant (1998) Towards a comparative integration, in: J Durant, M Bauer & G Gaskell (eds) Biotechnology in the public sphere: an European source book, Science Museum Publications, 217-230.

Bauer M and G Gaskell (1998) Eine Forschungsstrategie fuer soziale Repraesentationen, in: Witte E (ed) Sozialpsychologie der Kognitionen: soziale Repraesentationen, subjektive Theorien, soziale Einstellungen, Lengerich, Pabst, 26-47 [ISBN 3-933151-20-1]

Bauer M (1998) 'La longue duree' of popular science, 1830-present, In Deveze-Berthet D (ed) La promotion de la culture scientifique et technique: ses acteur et leurs logic, Actes du colloque des 12 et 13 decembre 1996, 75-92.[ISBN 2-7442-0021-2]

Gaskell G & M Bauer (1997) Survey research on public perception of science, in: Sjobert S and E Kallerud (eds) Science, technology and citizenship, Oslo, Nordic Institute for Future Studies, 93-112 [ISBN 82-7218-370-6].

Durant, J; A Hansen, and M Bauer (1996) Public understanding of human genetics; in: T Marteau and M Richards (eds) The troubled helix: social and psychological implications of the new human genetics, Cambridge University Press, 235-248.

Bauer, M (1995) Resistance to new technology and its effects on nuclear power, information technology and biotechnology, in: Bauer, M. (ed) Resistance to new technology -nuclear power, information technology, biotechnology, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1-41.

Bauer, M (1995) Technophobia: a misleading conception of resistance to new technology; in: Bauer, M. (ed) Resistance to new technology - nuclear power, information technology, biotechnology, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 97-124.

Bauer, M (1995) Towards a functional analysis of resistance; in: Bauer, M. (ed) Resistance to new technology - nuclear power, information technology, biotechnology, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 393-418.

Codo W, J J C Sampaio, A H Hitomi and M Bauer (1995) A sincromo do trabalho vazio em bancairos, in: W Codo and J J C Sampaio (eds) Sofrimento psiquico nas organizacoes, Petropolis, Vozes, 316-329 [the empty work syndrom among bank employees] [ISBN 85.326.1401-9]

Bauer M (1994) A popularizacao da ciencia como 'immunizacao cultural': a funcao de resistencia das representatcoes sociais, en: Guareschi P and S Jovchelovitch (orgs) Textos en representacoes sociais, Petropolis, Brazil, Vozes, 229-259 [7th edition 2003]. [Bauer M (1994) Popular science as 'cultural immunisation'. The resistance function of social representations]

Bauer M (1994) Science and Technology in the British Press, 1946-1986, in: B Schiele, M Amyot and C Benoit (eds) When Science becomes Culture, Boucherville, University of Ottawa Press - vol II, [ISBN-2-921146-18-15].