Expert Activities of Scholars in the Context of Age Differences
Research Article
How to Cite
Ivchenkova M.S. (2025) Expert Activities of Scholars in the Context of Age Differences. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii (The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology), 28(1): 110–132 (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.31119/jssa.2025.28.1.5 EDN: BYIKAF
Abstract
The expert activities of scientists are diverse and represent one of the professional roles both within the academic world and in the social space beyond it. The article presents the results of sociological survey of the expert activities of researchers and university professors in the context of age differences. The study involved an online questionnaire survey of 486 experts from 14 regions of Russia in 2023. The survey showed that a researcher providing expertise essentially always goes beyond the boundaries of his institution. The older respondents more often have to act as experts outside their primary workplace predominantly working with government authorities. The article provides data on the degree to which age influences experts' commitment to their specialization, their focus on the needs of a specific region or institution, and the role of authority, reputation and status. The older experts primarily rely on their professional experience highly valuing methodological competence. Younger experts pay more attention to objective facts focusing on the logic of analyzing the situation and the object of expertise. With age and experience there is an increase in refusals to conduct expertise partly due to the significant time investment, lack of payment for this activity, and the conflicts of interest. Young experts refuse to conduct expertise much less frequently mainly citing a lack of relevant competencies as the reason. The older experts are significantly more confident in their authority, while young experts are interested in developing their professional reputation and pay special attention to the review of scientific manuscripts. This indicates stable and reproducible norms in science where expertise is an integral element of the verification of scientific knowledge.
Keywords:
expertise, ambivalence of expert knowledge, expert, competence, expert activity, academic researchers, university professors
References
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Kopnin P.V., Popovich M.V. (eds.) (1965) The Logic of Scientific Research. Moscow: Nauka (in Russian).
Kravchenko S.A. (2019) Increasingly Complex Metamorphoses: Sociological Search for Answers to Challenges. M.: ANO «Redakciya zhurnala “Znanie-sila”» (in Russian).
Kravchenko S.A., Konnov V.I. (2016) Problem of Trust in Scientific Knowledge: Risks and Ways to Overcome Them. Polis. Political Studies, 5: 108–121. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2016.05.09 (in Russian).
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Porus V.N., Bazhanov V.A. (2021a) [Post-Normal Science: Passing the Scylla of Uncertainty and the Charybdis of the Politicization of Knowledge]. Philosophy Journal of the Higher School of Economics, 5(4): 15–33. https://doi.org/10.17323/2587-8719-2021-4-15-33 (in Russian).
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Hetland P. (2020) Citizen Science: Co-constructing Access, Interaction, and Participation. Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies, 8: 5–17. https://doi.org/10.5324/njsts.v8i2.3547.
Kalleberg R. (2012) Sociologists as Public Intellectuals and Experts. Journal of Applied Social Science, 6(1): 43–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/1936724411435747.
Macfarlane B. (2012) Intellectual Leadership in Higher Education. Abingdon, Routledge.
Merton Robert K. (1973) The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Edited by Norman W. Storer.
ess. Edited by Norman W. Storer.
Weber M. (1990) Science as a Vocation and Profession. In: Weber M. Selected Works. Moscow: Progress: 707–735 (in Russian).
Gorshkov M.K. (2016) Russian Society as it is: (The Experience of Sociological Diagnostics). In 2 vol. Vol. 1. 2nd ed. Moscow: Novyj khronograf (in Russian).
Ivchenkova M.S. (2020) Expert Knowledge in Regional Governance. Izvestiya Saratovskogo Universiteta. Novaya seriya. Seriya: Sotsiologiya. Politologiya [News of Saratov University. New series. Series: Sociology. Politology], 20(3): 264–267. https://doi.org/10.18500/1818-9601-2020-20-3-264-267 (in Russian).
Science and Technology Indicators in the Russian Federation: 2024: Data Book (2024) Gokhberg L.M., Ditkovskiy K.A., Kotsemir M.N. et al.; National Research University Higher School of Economics. Moscow: ISSEK HSE (in Russian).
Kopnin P.V., Popovich M.V. (eds.) (1965) The Logic of Scientific Research. Moscow: Nauka (in Russian).
Kravchenko S.A. (2019) Increasingly Complex Metamorphoses: Sociological Search for Answers to Challenges. M.: ANO «Redakciya zhurnala “Znanie-sila”» (in Russian).
Kravchenko S.A., Konnov V.I. (2016) Problem of Trust in Scientific Knowledge: Risks and Ways to Overcome Them. Polis. Political Studies, 5: 108–121. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2016.05.09 (in Russian).
Merton R.K. (1993) The Matthew Effect in Science, II: Cumulative Advantage and the Symbolism of Intellectual Property. THESIS, 3: 256–276 (in Russian).
Porus V.N., Bazhanov V.A. (2021a) [Post-Normal Science: Passing the Scylla of Uncertainty and the Charybdis of the Politicization of Knowledge]. Philosophy Journal of the Higher School of Economics, 5(4): 15–33. https://doi.org/10.17323/2587-8719-2021-4-15-33 (in Russian).
Porus V.N., Bazhanov V.A. (2021b) Vistas for the Politicization of Scientific Knowledge Through the Lens of Post-Normal Science. Philosophy Journal of the Higher School of Economics, 5(4): 78–82. https://doi.org/10.17323/2587-8719-2021-4-78-82 (in Russian).
Sokolov M.M. (2021) Academic Recognition in Russian Sociology: A Study Using Reputation Surveys. Sociological Research, 3: 44–56. https://doi.org/10.31857/S013216250013728-3 (in Russian).
Toshchenko Zh.T. (2020) Society of Trauma: Between Evolution and Revolution (Experience of Theoretical and Empirical Analysis). Moscow: Ves' Mir.
Tukhvatulina L.A. (2021) A Normative Model of Politically Neutral Expertise. Philosophy Journal of the Higher School of Economics, 5(4): 57–64. https://doi.org/10.17323/2587-8719-2021-4-57-64 (in Russian).
Fuller S. (2018) The Sociology of Intellectual Life: The Career of the Mind in and around the Academy. Moscow: Izdatel'skij dom «Delo» RANHiGS (in Russian).
Chernykh S.I., Frolova N.D. (2021) Scientific and Scientific and Technical Expertise: Problems of System Formation. Russian Competition Law and Economy, 3(27): 22–31. https://doi.org/10.47361/2542-0259-2021-3-27-22-31 (in Russian).
Shibarshina S.V. (2023) On the Problem of Using the Symbolic Power of Scientific and Expert Knowledge. The Digital Scholar: Philosopher’s Lab, 6(2): 102–117. https://doi.org/10.32326/2618-9267-2023-6-2-102-117 (in Russian).
Shchedrina I.O., Zhuravel E.P. (2022) What Kind of Expert is Valuable for Science? (On the Issue of Typological Characteristics of Expert Knowledge). Bulletin of Saint Petersburg University. Philosophy and Conflict Studies, 38(4): 562–571. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu17.2022.410 (in Russian).
Bashiri F. (2024) Conceptualizing Scholar-Activism Through Scholar-Activist Accounts. In: Mattsson P., Perez Vico E., Salö L. (eds.) Making Universities Matter. Innovation, Technology, and Knowledge Management. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48799-6_4.
Hern L.S. (2016) Navigating the Borderland of Scholar Activism. Journal of Applied Social Science, 10: 119–131. https://doi.org/10.1177/1936724415625306.
Hetland P. (2020) Citizen Science: Co-constructing Access, Interaction, and Participation. Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies, 8: 5–17. https://doi.org/10.5324/njsts.v8i2.3547.
Kalleberg R. (2012) Sociologists as Public Intellectuals and Experts. Journal of Applied Social Science, 6(1): 43–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/1936724411435747.
Macfarlane B. (2012) Intellectual Leadership in Higher Education. Abingdon, Routledge.
Merton Robert K. (1973) The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Edited by Norman W. Storer.
ess. Edited by Norman W. Storer.
Article
Received: 11.10.2024
Accepted: 25.03.2025
Citation Formats
Other cite formats:
ACM
[1]
Ivchenkova, M.S. 2025. Expert Activities of Scholars in the Context of Age Differences. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii (The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology). 28, 1 (Mar. 2025), 110–132. DOI:https://doi.org/10.31119/jssa.2025.28.1.5.
Section
Sociology of Science
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