摘要：Social policies are essentially concerned with the promotion of social welfare and are frequently directed to specific segments of society. In Latin American countries (and particularly in Brazil), they are often oriented towards the inclusion of workers in the formal labor market. Science and technology policy (STP) has a considerable potential of reaching several segments of society and has historically been recognized as having a fundamental role in generating wealth and social welfare. Brazilian science and technology policy, however, has never had a “social” orientation. In other words, it has never been seen as a tool for promoting social inclusion and the improvement of life conditions for the larger part of Brazilian society: those who are excluded from the formal labor market. Also, it has interacted poorly with social policies, rather than complementing them. The main reason for this is that Brazilian STP is essentially self-contained. The scientific community has historically been its dominant actor, and has often shaped the agenda according to its own values and interests. The power asymmetry in the decision making process prevents other actors, such as social movements, local governments and in some cases even firms and the military to take part on the construction of this policy’s agenda. This paper intends to discuss this subject and proposes, as a strategy for shaping a more socially concerned STP in Brazil, the introduction of a “socially inclusive approach” on the scientific community rationale. We observe that, despite the efforts of the current government in making science and technology policies an important part of the social inclusion strategy, little has changed. We argue that this is because STP is still dominated by a single actor whose rationale remains unchanged. In order to study in detail the poor interaction between the two policies, the Policy Analysis framework is employed, given its capability of unveiling political aspects that involve policy making and policy characteristics. The analytical tools for priority identification, agenda conformation and policy making are emphasized, due to their importance in allowing a more complete understanding of public policies, including the rationale that shapes them and the aspects of their interaction.
关键词：science and technology policy, social inclusion policy, Brazil, convergence, science, technology and society relations
