The State of the Field

Abstract

Abstract This chapter maps the existing knowledge base as it relates to the analysis of blame. It undertakes this exercise in conceptual cartography in response to concerns that the existing knowledge base is as scattered as it is diffused. A sophisticated bibliometric analysis dating back several decades provides a data-based foundation for this chapter and allows the authors to highlight a core spine of scholarship. It also identifies a number of ‘gaps’ and ‘traps’ in relation to the study of blame. The former ‘gaps’ relate to areas or topics that have not formed the focus of blame-theoretic research; the latter ‘traps’ highlight dominant assumptions that are very rarely questioned, let alone challenged, within the existing research base. The research presented in the chapter also indicates the existence of a number of central reference points, a lack of connective intellectual tissue between approaches, and a number of emergent themes that demand further analysis. The final section seeks to stretch and push the boundaries of how, why, and where the politics and governance of blame (and therefore credit) is approached and understood.