The advent of the citizen expert

Democratising or pushing the boundaries of expertise

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2306325
AutoresEva Krick (0000-0001-7620-6417, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany; University of Oslo, Norway, autor de correspondencia), Taina Meriluoto (0000-0003-1793-1031, University of Helsinki)
Año2022
Volumen70
Número7
Páginas967-973
Fecha de publicación2022-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCurrent Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0011-3921 • E-ISSN: 1461-7064
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00113921221078043
OpenAlexW4214648536
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas28

This contribution introduces Current Sociology's special subsection 'The advent of the citizen expert: Democratising or pushing the boundaries of expertise?', which deals with the increasing involvement of 'ordinary citizens' as experts into political and social debates. From an integrated perspective that transcends policy fields and societal realms, the special subsection deals with the epistemic and democratic implications of this transformation in civic participation and knowledge validation practice. It pays special attention to the tensions that can be implied by citizen expertise's 'double promise' of tapping into novel channels of participation and idle knowledge resources at the same time. Three promising themes and research avenues are identified that the advent of the citizen expert highlights: The changes in liberal-democratic culture indicated by the emergence of this new actor category, the way societal power relations are impacted by the elevation of citizen expertise and the subsequently shifting boundaries and standards of what can count as knowledge or expertise

Democracy · Perspective (graphical) · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Public relations · Sociology · Data Analysis and Archiving · Education, Healthcare and Sociology Research · Law · Mental Health and Patient Involvement