This article is the result of a compared investigation between engineering and technological researchers in Brazil and Finland. The aim was to identify the differences that each group formulated in respect of their role as researchers in their respective societies, connecting that to their perception about social recognition of their activity. We interviewed eleven and twelve researchers in Brazil and Finland respectively. The questionnaire, with objective and open questions, was based mainly in two categories: social recognition of scientific activities and the social importance by them attributed to it. From the connections between the to categories in the interviewee’s answers, we worked with the notion of professional duty, identifying how both groups exposed an idea of their role in society. The work concludes that, faced with the lack of recognition of research activities in Brazil, the interviewees see themselves as promoters of social development. Faced with recognition of their activity, in Finland interviewees deepen the importance of the strictly scientific character of their professional activity.
Key words:
Professional duty; Sociology of science; Sociology of higher education