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Transgressive Competence

The Narrative of Expertise

SWISS FEDERAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, SWITZERLAND

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.

Key Words: expertise • individualized decision-maker • quality control • reflexive modernization • social distribution of knowledge

European Journal of Social Theory, Vol. 3, No. 1, 5-21 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/136843100003001001


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