Dear colleagues,
for a special issue on ‘lay’ or ‘citizen expertise’ (to be published by Current sociology), we are still looking for 1-2 contributions.
Abstracts can be sent until February 15th to both guest editors: Taina Meriluoto (taina.meriluoto@helsinki.fi) and Eva Krick (eva.krick@arena.uio.no).
Our special issue deals with the involvement of citizens in the role of experts through a range of practices (e.g. service user involvement, participatory governance, citizen juries, citizen science etc.).
All these initiatives promise to accentuate the views of the public and include alternative forms of knowledge at the same time. We want to take a critical look at these practices, map the different types and discuss their effects for democracy, society and the roles of citizens and experts in particular.
Contributions should address the following key questions:
- What kind of knowledge is being generated by lay experts? What is the core of what can count as expertise, and what are the boundaries?
- How are the role of ‘citizen’ and ‘expert’ reconciled in these practices? How are questions of power and inequality between citizens and experts affected?
- What are the democratic legitimacy implications when public participation is being expertised? Which democratic legitimacy criteria do these practices speak to?
We are especially looking for case-based studies and we welcome democratic theory perspectives in particular.
Papers should make sure to address the issue of lay expertise from a sociological perspective.
The deadline for a first draft of the paper to be sent to the guest editors is 1st of June 2020.
The deadline for papers submitted to Current sociology will be in September 2020.
We are very much looking forward to your proposals!
Best wishes,
Eva Krick and Taina Meriluoto