Staging Science: Authoritativeness and Fragility of Models and Measurement in the COVID-19 Crisis

Wouter Van Dooren and Mirko Noordegraaf
Additional contact information
Wouter Van Dooren: University of Antwerp

No nfm5j, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: n the COVID‐19 crisis, society pins its hopes on science to play an authoritative role in reducing uncertainty and ambiguity. But is science up to the task? This is far from self‐evident. The demands on science in times of crisis run counter to the values of good, normal science. Crisis science needs to be fast, univocal, personalized, and direct, while normal science is slow, contentious, collective, and sensitive to complexity. Science can only play its atypical role if it is staged in the public arena. Some patterns of staging stand out: personalization, visualization, and connection to lived experiences. So far, the staging of science has been successful, but it is fragile. The COVID‐19 crisis shows the potential of well‐staged forms of alliance between science and policy, but when the general assumption is that scientists will “solve” societal “problems,” the staging of science has gone too far.

Date: 2020-05-10
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://osf.io/download/5f3fd0c8746a8100e81a2354/

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:nfm5j

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/nfm5j

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in SocArXiv from Center for Open Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by OSF ().