Epistemic Community

Artur Lipiński, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań, Poland
artur.lipinski@amu.edu.pl

Two basic theoretical stances can help one approach the idea of an epistemic community: the soft constructivist approach in international relations and the interpretive-constructivist tradition. Although their emphasis and disciplinary roots differ, both points of view stress the central part that common knowledge, norms, and interpretive frameworks play in forming collective understanding, guiding social activities, and so affecting political results.

Inspired by cultural studies and the sociology of knowledge, the interpretive-constructivist approach sees epistemic communities as interpretive communities—groups bound together by common cultural texts, symbolic codes, belief systems, and interpretive practices. Scholars like Stanley Fish and Clifford Geertz stress that, using common symbolic resources, meaning is co-created inside communities rather than fixed or universal. Epistemic communities are essential in building, copying, and justifying particular ontological domains or worldviews. These readings eventually become naturalised, accepted as self-evident facts, so supporting the internal standards and epistemic power of the society.

On the other hand, the soft constructivist approach in international relations emphasises the agency of expert players in negotiating world complexity and uncertainty. This viewpoint looks at how professional networks and knowledgeable people create and spread ideas that influence policy decisions, transcending discursive structures. In this context, Peter M. Haas defines epistemic communities as networks of professionals with acknowledged expertise who share a set of principled and causal beliefs, standards for validating knowledge, and a common policy enterprise orientated towards practical problem-solving. Both causal reasoning and normative frameworks in public policymaking are greatly informed by these communities. Modern media studies draw on both of these points of view. On social media platforms, people group around common interests, co-create meaning, and distribute policy-relevant information. These digital environments show how epistemic influence now functions via both interpretive and strategic processes, so bridging cultural sense-making with expert-driven intervention in public discourse.

Keywords: community, constructivism, discourse, interpretation

Related Entries: Epistemic/Truth, Evidence, Foundedness

References:
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Hass P. (2001). Policy knowledge: epistemic communities, In N. J. Smelser & B. Baltes (Eds.), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (pp. 11578-11576). Elsevier.
Fish S. (1980). Is there a text in this class? The authority of interpretive communities. Harvard University Press.
Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books.