Performing Trustworthiness: The ‘Credibility Work’ of Prominent Sociologists

To the limited extent that sociologists have considered non-academics’ trust in sociologists, legitimacy has become entwined with the idea of a value-free, ‘objective’ sociology. However, broader philosophical/sociological work suggests that credibility signals are more complex, with, for example, non-partisanship being separate to epistemic responsibility. In this article, I explore the nature of ‘credibility work’ in practice via interviews with 15 prominent English sociologists, making three contributions. First, I find that some sociologists deliberately pursue credibility, a phenomenon largely ignored in previous research. They do this primarily by ‘performing’ non-partisanship or epistemic responsibility within interactions. Second, this credibility work does not require the pursuit of ‘objectivity’; sociologists can signal epistemic responsibility despite partisanship, or pursue ‘dispassionate advocacy’. Third, the extent and nature of credibility work varies by context; indeed some sociologists benefit from partisanship, while others feel no need for credibility work. I conclude by stressing the need for further research.