Experts and Amateurs in Times of Transition: From Decolonising to the Re-Colonisation of Science

Abstract

This article interprets recent changes in the structure of the scientific field, focusing on the legitimacy of expertise and the division between lay and expert knowledge. It compares aspects of the scientific transition, the professionalisation of the scientific field in Victorian England to developments of the past few decades. Nineteenth-century transformations resulted in the restructuring and decolonisation of the scientific field: clearer internal and external boundaries and relative autonomy. Today, we witness the blurring of these demarcations and the deconstruction of earlier constructs. The conceptual framework of my analysis is that introduced by Harry Collins and his colleagues as the Studies of Expertise and Experience. The article first provides an overview of the most important concepts, altering some emphases to fit the purposes of the present subject. By examining the question of legitimacy and status of expert knowledge under different periods and circumstances, the article points out both similarities and important differences between the two eras of transition. Finally, the paper discusses the recolonisation of the scientific field observed in twenty-first-century autocracies and concludes that the conceptual framework of the third wave of science studies needs to be adjusted to give an entirely satisfying interpretation of this novel development.