Gil Eyal, "The Crisis of Expertise" (Polity, 2019)

New Books in Sociology · Feb 10, 2020 · 1h 6m

In recent political debates there has been a significant change in the valence of the word “experts” from a superlative to a near pejorative, typically accompanied by a recitation of experts’ many failures and misdeeds. In topics as varied as Brexit, climate change, and vaccinations there is a palpable mistrust of experts and a tendency to dismiss their advice. Are we witnessing, therefore, the “death of expertise,” or is the handwringing about an “assault on science” merely the hysterical reaction of threatened elites? In this new book, The Crisis of Expertise (Polity, 2019), Gil Eyal argues…