Between Democracy and Technocracy: Revisiting the Problem of Expertise in Post-Fukushima Japan

• In Event: 131 - Section on Political Sociology Paper Session. Inequality and Representation

Abstract

Since experts are culturally defined as agents of technical knowledge, they are authorized to play a different role than citizens in policymaking. At the same time, experts threaten democratic rule, especially when administrative experts mobilize scientific experts to technocratically dominate civil society. In this paper, we revisit the longstanding problem of expertise on both theoretical and empirical dimensions. Theoretically, we propose a synthesis of social movement studies and science and technology studies to better understand how expertise mediates interactions between government and civil society. Empirically, we assess the analytical potential of the proposed synthesis in light of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident. Based on ethnographic and textual data that we collected between April 2011 and June 2012, we argue that the extent to which civil society can influence the government depends on organizational vehicles for mobilizing counter-expertise and political opportunities available to victims and their supporters. But the availability of political opportunities is crucially mediated by framing processes: whether scientific research is framed as certain or uncertain. An “uncertainty” frame enables civil society to take advantage of political opportunities by leveraging the role of citizens and their rights against experts and their scientific knowledge.

Authors

• Hiro Saito, Singapore Management University

• Sang-hyoun Pahk, University of Hawaii-Manoa