Transgressive Competence

The Narrative of Expertise

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2397550
AutoresHelga Nowotny (0000-0003-3719-4227, SWISS FEDERAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, SWITZERLAND, autor correspondente)
Ano2000
Volume3
Fascículo1
Páginas5-21
Data de publicação2000-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEuropean Journal of Social Theory (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1368-4310 • E-ISSN: 1461-7137
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/13684310022224651
OpenAlexW4245261178
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas51
Referências citadas8

Relying on a powerful collective narrative through which political, legal and social decision-making is guided in the name of science, the authority of scientific experts reaches beyond the boundaries of their certified knowledge base. Therefore, expertise constitutes and is constituted by transgressive competence. The author argues that (1) changes in the decision-making structure of liberal Western democracies and changes in the knowledge production system diminish the authority of scientific expertise while increasing the context-dependency of expertise - thereby altering the nature of its predictive claims; (2) the societal distribution of expertise, while displaying emancipatory features of empowerment of citizens, also raises issues of quality control; and (3) in order to regain a balance between public and private, i.e. individual-based societally distributed expertise, future expert systems will need to adopt a longer time-perspective. The author also reflects on directions in which future expert systems might evolve

Aesthetics · Competence (human resources) · Epistemology · Linguistics · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of scientific knowledge · Transgressive · Critical Realism in Sociology · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Higher Education and Employability · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology