Experts in Science and Society / Edition 1

by Elke Kurz-Milcke, Gerd Gigerenzer

Overview

In today's complex world, we have come to rely increasingly on those who have expertise in specific areas and can bring their knowledge to bear on crucial social, political and scientific questions. Taking the viewpoint that experts are consulted when there is something important at stake for an individual, a group, or society at large, Experts in Science and Society explores expertise as a relational concept. How do experts balance their commitment to science with that to society? How does a society actually determine that a person has expertise? What personal traits are valued in an expert? From where does the expert derive authority? What makes new forms of expertise emerge? These and related questions are addressed from a wide range of areas in order to be inclusive, as well as to demonstrate similarities across areas. Likewise, in order to be culturally comparative, this volume includes examples and discussions of experts in different countries and even in different time periods. The topics include the roles of political experts, scientific experts, medical experts, legal experts, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306479038
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	12/31/2003
Edition description:	2004
Pages:	314
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.03(d)

Table of Contents

Political Systems and the Experts They Support.- Scientists as Expert Advisors: Science Cultures Versus National Cultures?.- Experts’ Discourses as Judicial Drama or Bureaucratic Coordination: Family Debate in the United States and Germany.- The Integration of Social Science Expertise Into the Political Process: Did It Actually Happen?.- Socialist Legal Experts: A New Profession?.- Who Is Called Upon as Expert?.- Folklore Protection in Australia: Who Is Expert in Aboriginal Tradition?.- The Humane Expert: The Crisis of Modern Medicine During the Weimar Republic.- Expertise Not Wanted: The Case of the Criminal Law.- Air Pollution Control: Who Are the Experts?.- Experts, Redefined.- The Philosopher as Coach.- Who Decides the Worth of an Arm and a Leg? Assessing the Monetary Value of Nonmonetary Damage.- The Expert in a Historical Context: The Case of Venetian Politics.- Innovative Representations.- Mapping Urban Nature: Bio-Ecological Expertise and Urban Planning.- How to Improve the Diagnostic Inferences of Medical Experts.- Statistical Scientific Evidence and Expertise in the Courtroom.- The Authority of Representations.