[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-43333-en":3,"doc-seo-43333-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},43333,2336464648746,"Skyler","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",8,"Research & Report","The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters","The book argues that expertise is not dead, but is under serious pressure as established knowledge is increasingly challenged in public life. It frames “the death of expertise” as both provocative language and a real cultural shift, describing a society that prizes ignorance and treats expert knowledge with suspicion. Through chapters on experts and citizens, strained public conversation, higher education, ubiquitous information, journalism, and cases when experts err, it connects expertise to democratic functioning and civic responsibility.","THE DEATH OF EXPERTISE  \nTHE DEATH OF EXPERTISE  \nThe Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters  \nTom Nichols  \n1  \nOxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthersthe University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.  \nPublished in the United States of America by Oxford University Press  \n198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.  \n© Oxford University Press 2017  \nAll rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored ina retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted bylaw, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.  \nYou must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.  \nLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Nichols, Tom, 1960-author.  \nTitle: The death of expertise : the campaign against established knowledge and why it matters / Tom Nichols.  \nDescription: New York, NY : Oxford University Press,[2017] | Includes bibliographical references.  \nIdentifiers: LCCN 2016037219 | ISBN 9780190469412 Subjects: LCSH: Information society—Political aspects. | Knowledge, Theory of—Political aspects. | Knowledge, Sociology of. | Expertise—Political aspects. | Education, Higher—Political aspects. | Internet—Political aspects. Classification: LCC HM851 .N54 2017 | DDC 303.48/33—dc23  \nLC record available at [https://lccn.loc.gov/2016037219](https://lccn.loc.gov/2016037219)[ ](https://lccn.loc.gov/2016037219)1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America  \nFor Lynn Marie Nichols and Hope Virginia Nichols Expert wife and peerless daughter  \nCONTENTS  \nPreface ix  \nIntroduction: The Death of Expertise 1  \n1. Experts and Citizens 13  \n2. How Conversation Became Exhausting 40  \n3. Higher Education: The Customer Is Always Right 70  \n4. Let Me Google That for You: How Unlimited Information Is Making Us Dumber 105  \n5. The “New” New Journalism, and Lots ofIt 134  \n6. When the Experts Are Wrong 170  \nConclusion: Experts and Democracy 209  \nNotes 239  \nIndex 249  \nPREFACE  \n“The death of expertise” is one of those phrases that grandly announces its own self-importance. It’s a title that risks alienating a lot of people before they even open the book, almost daring the reader to find a mistake in it somewhere just to take the author down a peg. I understand that reaction, because I feel much the same way about such sweeping pronouncements. Our cultural and literary life is full of premature burials of everything: shame, common sense, manliness, femininity, childhood, good taste, literacy, the Oxford comma, and so on. The last thing we all need is one more encomium for something we know isn’t quite dead.  \nWhile expertise isn’t dead, however, it’s in trouble. Something is going terribly wrong. The United States is now a country obsessed with the worship of its own ignorance. It’s not just that people don’t know a lot about science or politics or geography; they don’t, but that’s an old problem. And really, it’s not even a problem, insofar as we live in a society that works because of a division of labor, a system designed to relieve each of us of having to know about everything. Pilots fly airplanes, lawyers file lawsuits, doctors prescribe","cbCaivYFUxuDEdzI","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivYFUxuDEdzI","pdf",1530538,7,1,273,"English","en",105,"# Preface\n# Introduction: The Death of Expertise\n# Experts and Citizens\n# How Conversation Became Exhausting\n# Higher Education: The Customer Is Always Right\n# Let Me Google That for You: How Unlimited Information Is Making Us Dumber\n# The “New” New Journalism, and Lots of It\n# When the Experts Are Wrong\n# Conclusion: Experts and Democracy\n# Notes\n# Index","[{\"question\":\"What does the author mean by “the death of expertise”?\",\"answer\":\"The phrase is deliberately provocative, but the core claim is that expertise is not dead; it is in trouble as public life increasingly rejects or distrusts established knowledge.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the author connect expertise to democracy?\",\"answer\":\"The book links how expertise is treated to the quality of democratic decision-making, emphasizing that civic life depends on reliable knowledge and appropriate trust in experts.\"},{\"question\":\"How does unlimited information affect public understanding according to the book?\",\"answer\":\"The text argues that easy access to information can make people less capable rather than more knowledgeable, leading to weaker reasoning and overconfidence.\"}]",1783380135,688,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":28},"the-death-of-expertise-the-campaign-against-established-knowledge-and-why-it-matters","",{"@graph":36,"@context":86},[37,54,69],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-death-of-expertise-the-campaign-against-established-knowledge-and-why-it-matters/43333/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-16","2026-07-06",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"What does the author mean by “the death of expertise”?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"The phrase is deliberately provocative, but the core claim is that expertise is not dead; it is in trouble as public life increasingly rejects or distrusts established knowledge.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"Why does the author connect expertise to democracy?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"The book links how expertise is treated to the quality of democratic decision-making, emphasizing that civic life depends on reliable knowledge and appropriate trust in experts.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"How does unlimited information affect public understanding according to the book?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"The text argues that easy access to information can make people less capable rather than more knowledgeable, leading to weaker reasoning and overconfidence.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":88,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":90,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":93},[94,98,102,106,111,116,120,123,128,131,135],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":113,"show_sort_weight":114,"slug":115},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]