Is co-production a ‘good’ concept? Three responses

Durose, Catherine ORCID: 0000-0002-1712-9914, Perry, Beth and Richardson, Liz (2022) Is co-production a ‘good’ concept? Three responses. Futures, 142. p. 102999.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2022.102999

Abstract

Co-production refers to a reciprocal process of exchange between diverse stakeholders, in order to generate outcomes that are only possible because of this deliberate intersection of difference. Whilst the concept of co-production appeals within and for futures studies, foresight and anticipatory politics, its conceptual messiness has been widely critiqued. Drawing upon an integrative literature review of co-production and concept formation in the social sciences, we identify three approaches that scholars of co-production have sought to mobilise in order to address this critique. Each approach offers a different perspective on what makes a ‘good’ social scientific concept: clarification, elucidation and provocation. Our analysis illuminates the value of holding different approaches to conceptualisation in tension, as a means of developing a richer and more contingent understanding of co-production to future studies’ debates. In doing so, we open up new conceptual imaginaries for co-production and its prefigurative value within futures studies, offering more pluralistic ways of knowing in a context of radical uncertainty

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Co -production, Conceptualisation, Buzzwords, Social science
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	16 Aug 2022 10:14
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 20:47
DOI:	10.1016/j.futures.2022.102999
Open Access URL:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2022.102999
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3161374