STS as science or politics?

Abstract

In a recent editorial for this journal, Sergio Sismondo makes two claims. First, he states that STS bears no responsibility for the emergence of post-truth politics. Second, he claims that debates about the nature of expertise that take place within STS are irrelevant in this context. In contrast, we argue that, whether or not STS had a causal influence on the emergence of post-truth politics, there is a clear resonance between the two positions and that the current political climate makes the empirically informed and scientific analysis of expertise and the form of life of science more important than ever. We argue that treating the contribution of STS to these matters as essentially political rather than scientific surrenders any special role we have as experts on the organization and values of science and leaves STS as just one political actor among others.