Redefining Scientisation: Central Banks between Science and Politics

Abstract

This article introduces a new conceptual framework for examining the transformation of central banks’ activities at the intersection of science and politics. The article relies on the results of four historical case studies gathered by the special issue “The Scientization of Central Banks. National Patterns and Global Trends”—to which this article provides also an introduction.We start with an analysis of Martin Marcussen’s concept of “scientization”, originally formulated to describe the changes within central banks since the 2000s. After highlighting how Marcussen’s concept has raised different interpretations, we broaden our scope to examine how “scientization” is applied in the wider social sciences, extending beyond the study of central banks. This brings to the fore two ideas: scientization as “boundary work”(redrawing the line between “science” and “non-science”) happening both in the public-facing (“frontstage”) and internal (“backstage”) activities of organizations.Finally, we suggest how these two ideas can be used to reinterpret “scientization” of central banks as the emergence of central banks as “boundary organizations”. This reframing allows us to untangle and clarify the phenomena previously conflated under the original concept of scientization, offering a more coherent framework for ongoing research on central banks.