Public Trust of Experts in Democratic Societies: Lessons from Follett and Dewey

It is commonly thought that there is a crisis of public trust in scientific experts. The traditional role of the expert as passing down the knowledge required to inform the public and resolve policy disputes faces both empirical and conceptual challenges. Relying on earlier ideas of Mary Parker Follet and John Dewey concerning the roles of experts in democratic decisionmaking, we propose an approach to rebuilding trust involving non-hierarchical communication and collaboration between experts and the public. These historical views inform a model of the co-production of knowledge and policy decisions that can improve the contemporary situation.