Lay expertise

Last updated: Tuesday, 02 July 2024

Knowledge or skills that individuals acquire outside of formal professional settings.

Contextual, practical knowledge, often informal. A product of first-hand experience, autodidacticism, or direct engagement with the subject at-hand.

Neither standardised nor regulated.

Lay expertise can challenge and/or complement expert knowledge, particularly in situations where scientific consensus may be uncertain or contested (as in postnormal science and conceptual emergency situations).

Example: Patient advocacy by those with complex or chronic conditions.

• [&] See also: traditional knowledge, cognitive justice? (both address the recognition and validation of diverse knowledges, esp. from non-expert/marginalised groups.)
• [&] Compare with: citizen science?

Backlinks

: Cognitive justice : Situated knowledges : User innovation