Abstract
Traditionally, scientific education is considered a main guarantee for expertise. However, new self-taught therapy providers increasingly seek expert status in health and well-being. These ‘field experts’ sometimes challenge the authority of scientific experts, arousing public debates on expertise and expert qualifications. This expansion of expertise, a popular topic in science and technology studies in the last decades, is driven partly by changes in the media environment and increasing consumer interest. Current research on citizen engagement in science often presumes citizens hold a stakeholder position or (aim to) participate in knowledge production. However, ways of participation in expertise and science are constantly changing, partly due to the evolving media landscape enabling new forms of participation. Online debate around alternative therapies by a well-known Finnish health influencer, Maria Nordin, show that citizens and consumers set competing criteria for health and well-being experts and use online discussions to negotiate these criteria. Proponents of alternative therapies highlight consumers’ responsibility for their health in the freedom of choice frame and describe traditional epistemic authorities as corrupt in the distrust frame. Opponents of alternative therapies promote science-based expertise in explaining and treating symptoms in the biomedical frame and criticize alternative experts for misleading consumers in the hoax frame. Citizens and consumers are increasingly involved in contesting and legitimizing experts and negotiating criteria for expertise and, thus, participating in the expansion of expertise.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Science as Culture |
Number of pages | 23 |
ISSN | 0950-5431 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 22 Oct 2024 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Fields of Science
- 518 Media and communications
- expansion of expertise
- health and well-being
- complementary and alternative medicine
- frame analysis