Fair, Democractic and Plural Knowledge Societies in Latin America

Abstract

Abstract: Society and culture at the planetary level suffered major transformations during the twentieth century, particularly in the second half, largely because of the impressive degree of scientific and technological development. Forms of economic production also experienced profound changes, so much so that the greatest wealth, from an economic standpoint, now is generated by so-called knowledge-based production systems. The concept of a knowledge society has been forged to refer to these phenomena. Nevertheless, it is a fact that science and technology have brought about major changes, thereby making it urgent to develop strategies to strengthen the culture of science and technology throughout Latin Amerca. The aforementioned concepts are discussed in this paper, along with possible strategies for bolstering the culture of science and technology. The authors also contend that a suitable model for a knowledge society in the Latin American countries should consider their broad and rich cultural diversity, which poses additional challenges.