Expertise presents an enduring political problem. It is, on one hand, essential to a functioning society. On the other hand, it is inextricably entwined with hierarchies and power disparities. A society based solely on the rule of experts would surely be no democracy, yet neither would a society with no experts. It is sensible to promote the spread of expertise through technological literacies and skills. However, the public will never all simply become experts. Indeed, the empowered individual actor imagined by neoliberalism and do-it-yourself technology philosophies strains both individuals by dissolving their institutional and community support structures. We argue in this Special Issue that expertise and publics are mutually constitutive rather than oppositional. These essays foreground how expertise is constituted, communicated, and evaluated. The process of analyzing expertise’s roles and functions resurfaces vital concerns for the current historical moment of heated populism and social media platforms.

中文翻译：

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专业知识和公众构成

专业知识提出了一个持久的政治问题。一方面，它对一个运转良好的社会至关重要。另一方面，它与等级制度和权力差距密不可分。一个完全依靠专家统治的社会肯定不会民主，但是一个没有专家的社会也不会民主。通过技术知识和技能促进专业知识的传播是明智的。但是，公众永远不会仅仅成为专家。的确，新自由主义和“自己动手做”的技术哲学所想象的有能力的个人演员会通过解散他们的制度和社区支持结构而使两个人紧张。我们在本期特刊中指出，专业知识和公众是相互构成而不是相互对立的。这些文章着重介绍了专业知识的构成，交流和评估方式。