Can democracy save children’s lives? Addressing the constitutional problem of expertise
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6452533 |
|---|---|
| Authors | B Laurent (0000-0001-7901-8518, École des Mines de Paris, Paris, France, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 288-294 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-06 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Studies of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0306-3127 • E-ISSN: 1460-3659 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/03063127241310461 |
| PMID | 39760336 |
| OpenAlex | W4406102396 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 12 |
This comment critically examines Collins, Evans, and Reyes-Galindo’s (CE&RG) concept of ‘virtual diversity’, proposed as a norm to safeguard scientific expertise in policy-making. CE&RG argue that scientists should acquire ‘interactional expertise’ in relevant ‘non-scientific domains’, enabling informed policy advice while preserving scientific integrity. This comment describes CE&RG’s dualist approach, which separates epistemic and political concerns, and discusses its implications. It shows that for virtual diversity to contribute to the quality of and trust in expertise, this approach needs to be radically re-worked to include legitimacy-building processes. Using examples such as South Africa’s AIDS policy and the COVID-19 pandemic, the comment argues that defending expertise requires ensuring the robustness of both scientific and political representations, of, in other terms, addressing expertise as a constitutional problem. Without a broader critical constitutional analysis, CE&RG’s proposal risks reinforcing the crisis of expertise it seeks to remedy
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Democracy · Diversity (politics · Engineering ethics · Epistemology · Law and economics · Legitimacy · Norm (philosophy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · Child and Adolescent Health · Children's Rights and Participation · Ethics and Legal Issues in Pediatric Healthcare · Law · Medicine
Struggles and Negotiations to Define What is Problematic and What is Not
States of Knowledge
The Role of Lay People in the Production and Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge
The politics and policy of the Third Wave
Contested Boundaries in Policy-Relevant Science
The Third Wave of Science Studies
The Republic of science
Virtual diversity
Latour and the Question of Politics
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |