The Politics of Expertise

Mile End Institute Podcast

In this episode of the Mile End Institute Podcast, Dr Patrick Diamond talks to Dr Lise Butler (City, University of London) and Dr Agnes Arnold-Forster (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) about the place of expertise in public life and how understandings of expertise have evolved historically.

This episode explores conceptions of medical expertise and how that expertise became more contested during the 20th century, alongside the increasingly important relationship between government and social sciences, as exemplified by the work of Michael Young. Patrick, Lise, and Agnes also discussed how it might be possible to forge a more productive relationship between experts and citizens in a liberal democracy in the contemporary era.