Are We All Scientific Experts Now?
New Human Frontiers - Polity
1. Edition February 2014
140 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Short Description
To ordinary people, science used to seem infallible. Scientists were heroes, selflessly pursuing knowledge for the common good. More recently, a series of scientific scandals, frauds and failures have led us to question science's pre-eminence. Revelations such as Climategate, or debates about the safety of the MMR vaccine, have dented our confidence in science.
In this provocative new book Harry Collins seeks to redeem scientific expertise, and reasserts science's special status. Despite the messy realities of day-to-day scientific endeavor, he emphasizes the superior moral qualities of science, dismissing the dubious "default" expertise displayed by many of those outside the scientific community. Science, he argues, should serve as an example to ordinary citizens of how to think and act, and not the other way round.
To ordinary people, science used to seem infallible. Scientists were heroes, selflessly pursuing knowledge for the common good. More recently, a series of scientific scandals, frauds and failures have led us to question science's pre-eminence. Revelations such as Climategate, or debates about the safety of the MMR vaccine, have dented our confidence in science.
In this provocative new book Harry Collins seeks to redeem scientific expertise, and reasserts science's special status. Despite the messy realities of day-to-day scientific endeavor, he emphasizes the superior moral qualities of science, dismissing the dubious "default" expertise displayed by many of those outside the scientific community. Science, he argues, should serve as an example to ordinary citizens of how to think and act, and not the other way round.
Introduction: The Growing Crisis of Expertise 1
1 Academics and How the World Feels 17
2 Experts 49
3 Citizen Sceptics 80
4 Citizen Whistle-blowers 103
Conclusion: Are We All Experts Now? 115
Notes 133
Bibliography 138
Index 142
LSE Review of Books
"Certainly a book for those who are interested in science and its role in society. For those who are curious about how scientists tackle problems and why they do often have the answers, it should prove illuminating."
Times Higher Education
"This brave, thoughtful little book should be sent to every newspaper editor. Collins doesn't write with Ben Goldacre's righteous anger, but his careful, nuanced scholarship is just as persuasive."
Seamus O'Mahony, Dublin Review of Books
"Masterful new book."
Mother Jones
"Brief book with a very high level argument relying a lot on his experience... this kind of nuanced, important thinking about science and expertise is a wonderful gift from Collins that I truly hope we don't squander."
Stark Reality - Todd I. Stark
''I read this short book with admiration - an analysis by a social scientist which (unlike much of that genre) should resonate with most actual researchers.''
Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and Former President of the Royal Society
''Packed into a slim polemic that succinctly yet movingly distills years of painstaking research into expertise, Harry Collins delivers an immensely rich book-- a thorough cultural and intellectual analysis of why attitudes towards towards scientific expertise have changed, and why a new view of them needs to be adopted, to preserve society. Readers who are new to Collins's ideas will find come away with a fresh take on explosive controversies, including Climategate and anti-vaccination campaigns. Long time readers of Collins will be amazed at how accessible his technical arguments are and the big impact that's made by seeing them integrated into a gripping, short-form narrative.''
Evan Selinger, Rochester Institute of Technology
