ASTK18487U Knowledge (elective)

Volume 2026/2027
Education

Full-degree students enrolled at the Department of Political Science, UCPH

  • MSc in Political Science
  • MSc in Social Science
  • MSc in Security Risk Management
  • Bachelor in Political Science

 

Full-degree students enrolled at the Faculty of Social Science, UCPH 

  • Bachelor and Master Programmes in Anthropology
  • Bachelor and Master Programmes in Psychology 
  • Master Programme in Social Data Science

 

The course is open to:

  • Exchange and Guest students from abroad
  • Credit students from Danish Universities
  • Open University students
Content

Rankings shape university funding. Indicators determine which states are labelled ‘fragile’. Randomised experiments decide which social programmes survive. In contemporary governance, knowledge does not merely inform politics, it helps organise and structure it.

 

This course examines how knowledge is produced, authorised, contested, and mobilised in politics and public policy. Rather than taking ‘evidence’ or ‘expertise’ for granted, the course asks: Who defines what counts as valid knowledge? How do practices such as quantification, classification, benchmarking, experimentation, and narrative shape political reality? When does knowledge empower – and when does it silence?

 

Drawing on science and technology studies (STS), sociology of science, and political theory, the course introduces key debates about how knowledge is defined and legitimised. We examine scientific paradigms and the boundary between science and pseudoscience, the role of experts and epistemic communities, the politics of indicators and global benchmarking, hierarchies of evidence, strategic ignorance, and the role of positionality and emancipatory knowledge. Students engage with both classical and contemporary texts and apply these perspectives to empirical cases from public policy and global governance.

 

The course progresses from foundational debates about the nature and authority of science to contemporary challenges such as post-truth politics, data-driven governance, and knowledge in the Anthropocene. Throughout, students develop analytical tools to assess how knowledge practices shape institutions, policy priorities, and distributions of power.
 

Learning Outcome

Knowledge:

  • Identify, summarise, and differentiate between key theories of knowledge and the sociology of knowledge.
  • Analyse the production, legitimisation, and mobilisation of different forms of knowledge in political and policy contexts.
  • Describe and evaluate the role of actors, institutions, and epistemic practices in shaping the authority and use of knowledge.
  • Explain historical and contemporary developments in knowledge production in areas such as science, politics, and public policy.

 

Skills:

  • Compare and evaluate different knowledge production practices (e.g. quantification, classification, experimentation, benchmarking).
  • Engage in theory-informed debate about expertise, evidence, and the politics of knowledge.
  • Analyse the implications of different epistemic assumptions for policy and governance.
  • Communicate complex arguments concerning the relationship between knowledge and power

 

Competences:

  • Reflect critically on the normative and political implications of different modes of knowledge production and use.
  • Assess the strengths and limitations of competing claims to expertise and evidence.
  • Apply theories of knowledge to empirical cases beyond those discussed in class.
  • Plan and complete an independent written analysis grounded in course literature.

The following is an indicative list of key readings associated with the course:

Classes will comprise mini-lectures, small group exercises, and frequent group and class discussions on the reading and class topics.

One third of the way through the course, students will be divided into groups depending on the knowledge artefact they wish to examine as part of their first assignment. They will then identify and discuss relevant experts, knowledge and forums for knowledge production in their self-selected case study, and finally analyze a specific ‘epistemic object’. Two thirds of the way through the course, students will be divided into new groups depending on the topic they have chosen to investigate as part of their second assignment (a mini free-written assignment on a topic of their choice that pertains to knowledge).
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 28
  • Preparation
  • 56
  • Exercises
  • 6
  • Exam Preparation
  • 16
  • Exam
  • 100
  • Total
  • 206
Written
Individual
Feedback by final exam (In addition to the grade)
Peer feedback (Students give each other feedback)

 

Students will receive individual written feedback on both of their ongoing assignments. They will also receive oral peer feedback on the drafts of their assignments when they participate in class peer review sessions.

Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Home assignment
Home assignment
Type of assessment details
Ongoing test.
See the section regarding exam forms in the program curriculum for more information on guidelines and scope.
Aid
All aids allowed except Generative AI
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Exam period

Winter exam 2026/27

Re-exam

In the semester where the course takes place: Free written assignment

In subsequent semesters: Free written assignment

 

NB! All exams (both ordinary and re-exams) will take place at the end of the autumn semester only, as the course is not offered in the spring

Criteria for exam assesment

Meet the subject's knowledge, skill and competence criteria, as described in the goal description, which demonstrates the minimally acceptable degree of fulfillment of the subject's learning outcome.

Grade 12 is given for an outstanding performance: the student lives up to the course's goal description in an independent and convincing manner with no or few and minor shortcomings

Grade 7 is given for a good performance: the student is confidently able to live up to the goal description, albeit with several shortcomings

Grade 02 is given for an adequate performance: the minimum acceptable performance in which the student is only able to live up to the goal description in an insecure and incomplete manner