Deficit Lay or Deficit Expert: How Do “Experts” in Environmental Projects Perceive Lay People and Lay Knowledge?

Abstract

This research reveals expert perceptions of lay people and lay knowledge in environmental projects, such as information giving activities, research projects, and environmental planning projects. A semistructured interview method was employed with six researchers from a university in Sweden. Although the expert–lay relationship has traditionally been discussed within a “deficit model,” many experts in this research expressed a more positive view of lay people and lay knowledge; however, situations where lay knowledge was considered useful varied. The experts’ motivation for communication was analyzed within the four communication modes of education, responding, supplementing, and dialogue. Their recognition of the “deficit expert” was one of the remarkable findings: the experts acknowledged their knowledge and competence in understanding “reality” had its limitations and questioned the objectivity and universality of science in relation to environmental science.