Expert knowledge creation in policy-making: a research perspective from sociological field theory

ABSTRACT

The article proposes a conceptual framework for exploring processes of expert knowledge creation in policy fields using recent advances in the sociological field theory. It rests on an observation that policy fields are no longer autonomous, but increasingly embedded in public life, and include actors from other fields who create knowledge for policy-making. While existing research clarifies many aspects of the relationship between expertise and policy-making, little is known about how multiple interrelated actors create expert knowledge and how this knowledge is institutionalized in policy fields. Addressing this gap, the article outlines mechanisms of expert knowledge creation in policy fields. It argues that actors mediating between different field domains succeed in creating influential expert knowledge, as they combine knowledge from disconnected areas and influence the operation of field-level mechanisms. Drawing on examples from the literature, the authors demonstrate the application of the theoretical framework to examine difficult-to-observe knowledge creation mechanisms operating in policy fields.

KEYWORDS:

• Expert knowledge
• policy field
• policy advisory system
• science-policy interaction
• co-production
• social mechanisms

Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank Nikita Basov for comments on the draft of the article, and Kseniia Puzyreva, Irina Kretser, and Alexander Pivovarov for discussing the ideas explored in this article. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their useful suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We use the term “policy field” rather than “policy subsystem” due to a terminological difference between sociology and public policy studies. Both terms describe similar phenomena, but in sociology the notions of “system” and “field” emphasize different aspects of social phenomena. The notion of “system” is used to describe a stable configuration of elements, while the notion of “field” highlights changes occurring through interaction of competing and cooperating actors with varying amounts of resources. Since we emphasize the dynamic rather than static aspects of knowledge creation in policy-making and the role of power in this process, using the term “policy subsystem” would be confusing. Therefore, we prefer to use the term “policy field”.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation [grant number 19-18-00394] “Creation of knowledge on ecological hazards in Russian and European local communities” (2019 – 2021).

Notes on contributors

Artem Antonyuk

Artem Antonyuk is an associate researcher at the Centre for German and European Studies, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia and a junior researcher at the Faculty of Sociology, St. Petersburg, Russia. He holds an MA degree in sociology of culture and communications. His research interests include freedom of expression, internet governance, and applications of network analysis to the study of knowledge creation.

Vera N. Minina

Vera N. Minina is a Professor of Sociology and the academic director of the MA programme “Human Resources Management”, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia. She is also Chief Editor of the academic journal “Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Sociology”. She has a PhD in Economics and a Doctor of Sciences degree in Sociology. Her fields of expertise are management, human resource management, sociology of organizations, and sociology of trust.

Olga Nikiforova

Olga Nikiforova is the head of science of the MA programme “Studies in European Societies” and an Associated Professor at the Department of Economic Sociology at the Faculty of Sociology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia. She holds a PhD in Sociology from St. Petersburg State University. Her research interests include economic sociology, sociology of labour, and education for sustainable development.