Moving towards a New View of Diagnostic Work: Some Implications

The diverse studies of diagnostic work in this book give shape to a new view of diagnostic work. They highlight just how much more than individual cognitive capability is needed, the close relationship between analysis and intervention, the often implicit nature of diagnosis, and the fact that there are several degrees or levels of diagnostic work. Different knowledges, motivations, skills and forms of expertise are mobilised in often collaborative and embodied encounters between people and objects. Matter and matters are made to speak in many ways through social, material and embodied practices. We would like to argue that this ‘new view’ of diagnostic work does not just ‘explain’ diagnosis in a more precise and sensitive manner. Indeed, in light of the rich descriptions in this book, the attempt to summarise the new view above exposes explanation as an unsatisfactorily abstract endeavour. The studies in this book, importantly, provide much more than explanation. They exhibit the specificities of diagnostic practices in different settings, some important intended and unintended consequences, moral and political implications, as well as opportunities for change.