At the present time the social sciences implicitly or explicitly start from a normative vision which has a dialectical objective: a reasoning that is at once theoretical and practical, or that is both a political and a scientific discourse. A focus on Jurgen Habermas' theory of communicative action provides possibilities of shifting the frontier…

Argues that the development of science education policy in postapartheid South Africa requires understanding of the links between science- and technology-based development strategies and investment in science education. Analyzes innovations in production technology (post-Fordist production methods and flexible specialization) that may have…