000			01821nam a2200217Ia 4500
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022			_a1468-4446
100			_aChattoe-Brown, Edmund _9122712
245		0	_aIs it time sociology started researching incompetence?
260			_bThe British Journal of Sociology
260			_c2024
300			_a219-231
520			_aThere appears to be a mismatch between apparent incompetence in the world and the amount of sociological research it attracts. The aim of this article is to outline a sociology of incompetence and justify its value. I begin by defining incompetence as unsatisfactory performance relative to standards. Incompetence is thus intrinsically sociological in being negotiated and socially (re)constituted. The next section foregrounds how widespread and serious incompetence is. This renders effective sociological understanding crucial to welfare. The article then systematically analyses uses of the term in the British Journal of Sociology (a good quality general journal) to assess the current state of research. This analysis fully confirms the neglect of incompetence as a research topic. The next section proposes suitable methods for preliminary incompetence research addressing distinctive challenges like the stigma of being incompetent. These sections then allow incompetence to be better contextualised by other contributing concepts like power, bureaucracy and meritocracy. The final section justifies suggestions about directions for future research.
650			_a Incompetence _9122713
650			_a Performance Standards _9122714
650			_a Power _98679
650			_a Secrecy
650			_a Spoiled Identity _947830
650			_aHarm Reduction _9122715
856			_uhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-4446.13077
999			_c134338 _d134338