Editing Science studies (section)

== Experts and democracy ==
Science has become a major force in Western democratic societies, which depend on innovation and technology (compare [[Risk society]]) to address its risks.<ref name="Ulrich Beck">{{cite book |title=Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity |author=Ulrich Beck |author-link=Ulrich Beck |publisher=SAGE Publications |location=New Delhi |date=1992 |isbn=978-0803983465}} (in German: Die Risikogesellschaft 1986)</ref> Beliefs about science can be very different from those of the scientists themselves, for reasons of e.g. moral values, epistemology or political motivations. The designation of expertise as authoritative in the interaction with lay people and decision makers of all kind is nevertheless challenged in contemporary risk societies, as suggested by scholars who follow [[Ulrich Beck]]'s theorisation. The role of expertise in contemporary democracies is an important theme for debate among science studies scholars. Some argue for a more widely distributed, pluralist understanding of expertise ([[Sheila Jasanoff]] and [[Brian Wynne]], for example), while others argue for a more nuanced understanding of the idea of expertise and its social functions (Collins and Evans, for example).<ref name="CollinsEvans">{{cite book|title=Rethinking Expertise |first1= Harry |last1=Collins |first2=Robert |last2=Evans |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=2007 |isbn=978-0226113623}}</ref><ref name="Collins2004">{{cite journal |last1=Collins|first1=Harry |title=Interactional expertise as a third kind of knowledge |journal=Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences |volume=3 |issue=2 |year=2004 |pages=125–143 |issn=1568-7759 |doi=10.1023/B:PHEN.0000040824.89221.1a|s2cid=143072688 }}</ref>