The data science epidemic: a perspective from the sociology of professions and expertise

Netta Avnoon

Chapter 12 in Research Handbook on the Sociology of the Professions, 2025, pp 175-187 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In this chapter, I will suggest a sociological, rather than technical, explanation for the success of data science expertise and its spread into diverse fields. At the intra-professional level, I argue that the way data scientists institutionalize their profession with an open-access approach, rather than a monopolistic, professionalised approach, contributes to the spread of their expertise, with many embracing data science's concepts and ways of doing things. At the inter-professional level, I argue that data scientists are able to form a vast network of connections with other professions, while alternating and adjusting their claim for authority. In this realm, they alternate three narratives for their inter-professional relations: replace, absorb or merely serve experts, making their expertise relevant to many domains and allowing them to co-produce with numerous fields, spreading their expertise widely. I then discuss grounded studies of AI in expert labour that demonstrate data science's success in weaving into the system of professions.

Keywords: Data science; Expertise; Intra-professional; Inter-professional relations; AI (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035323074
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035323081.00021 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

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:elg:eechap:22869_12

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().