The "Switch Point" and Meta-Expert Evaluation

• In Event: Unpacking Expertise - III: Boundaries, Technologies, & Translation

Abstract

This presentation explores the notion of switch point in meta-expert evaluation of expert claims. The switch point was coined by Michel Foucault to signify a pivoting point between expert and non-expert communication in a judicial context. According to Foucault, the weaker this point is epistemologically, the better it transfers expert claims and authority into the judicial framework of sense-making. Interestingly, in the examples of French forensic psychiatric statements Foucault discussed, the switch point functioned through language and terminology that Foucault called childish and moralizing.

I am interested in investigating and developing the notion of switch point further in the context of my empirical case study: traffic insurance compensation case verdicts from Helsinki district court dating from 2014 to 2017. The case type features a medical controversy concerning traumatic brain injury (TBI) diagnostics. Drawing support from select ethnomethodological courtroom studies, I contend that in the context and case type I examine the functioning of the switch point depends on intuitive social understanding, or “common sense” of how things usually relate to each other, bolstered by professional experience and skill. The presentation concludes with comparative remarks on theories of knowledge transfer.

Author

• Jaakko Olavi Taipale, University of Helsinki