An emerging “arms race”:resourcing the public communication effort

In this chapter, we observe the roll out of public communication of research institutes in the light of the medialisation hypothesis, for which we specify the arms race model (ARPC, arms race for public communication). We do this by examining relationships between the allocation of resources to public communication and the level of competition between universities and between research institutes. Using data on resources allocated and indicators of competition, we examine whether the statistical findings are consistent with an arms race in public communication. We are comparing data from eight countries (Brazil, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, and Germany; from N=2,030 research institutes) across six areas of research (Natural Sciences, Engineering & Technology, Medicine and Health Sciences, Agriculture, Social Sciences, and Humanities). The results suggest that there is an arms race for public communication, in some fields and countries more so than in others. We end with some speculation about a dawning era of ‘Baroque’ science communication’ in the consequences of this competition.