ABSTRACT

This chapter applies a sociology of knowledge perspective to the problem of standards, offering a case study of the “veil of standards” for football helmets. The analysis offered here addresses the coproduction of uncertainty and ignorance. Defined as the work done by standards and standardization processes in creating inequities in the distribution of socially valuable knowledge, the veil of standards is one of a number of strategies employed by groups who seek to assure players and others that football can be played with minimal risk of short- and long-term brain injury. The veil of standards concept helps advance scholarship at the intersection of the sociologies of sport, knowledge, and public health. Drawing on a review of the available safety standards and related documents and work on the precautionary principle, the chapter demonstrates how standards bodies set the agenda for helmet safety research, offering a narrow set of research questions for engineers, medical doctors, and materials scientists.