TY - JOUR
T1 - 1900 – Popular science as the work of Lucifer
T2 - the tensions between ‘enlightenment of the people’ and ‘popular science’ in Denmark
AU - Hjermitslev, Hans Henrik
PY - 2019/2/21
Y1 - 2019/2/21
N2 - In this article, the use of the term ‘popular science’ will be analysed within a specific national and linguistic context; namely the Danish cultural and religious climate around 1900. The Danish case demonstrates that the concepts of ‘popular science’ and ‘popularising of science’ cannot be uncritically used as descriptive terms by historians, since the concepts functioned as normative identity markers in cultural and educational struggles. Thus, from the 1870’s, the concept of ‘popular science’ became a contested actors’ category embraced by urban radical popularisers and rejected by rural Grundtvigian educators, who preferred ‘enlightenment of the people’ (folkeoplysning) as a non-paternalistic alternative to ‘popular science’ (populærvidenskab).
AB - In this article, the use of the term ‘popular science’ will be analysed within a specific national and linguistic context; namely the Danish cultural and religious climate around 1900. The Danish case demonstrates that the concepts of ‘popular science’ and ‘popularising of science’ cannot be uncritically used as descriptive terms by historians, since the concepts functioned as normative identity markers in cultural and educational struggles. Thus, from the 1870’s, the concept of ‘popular science’ became a contested actors’ category embraced by urban radical popularisers and rejected by rural Grundtvigian educators, who preferred ‘enlightenment of the people’ (folkeoplysning) as a non-paternalistic alternative to ‘popular science’ (populærvidenskab).
U2 - 10.1177/0963662519832095
DO - 10.1177/0963662519832095
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0963-6625
VL - 28
SP - 504
EP - 509
JO - Public Understanding of Science
JF - Public Understanding of Science
IS - 4
ER -