From Principles to Practice: Fair Data and the Infrastructural Turn in Social Science

This chapter examines the evolution of the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles from a conceptual framework into a concrete infrastructural paradigm shaping contemporary social science research. It situates FAIR within its theoretical, ethical, and epistemological foundations, highlighting its alignment with the broader Open Science movement and its role in addressing challenges of data accessibility, reproducibility, and stewardship in the digital age. The chapter then analyses how the four FAIR dimensions operate in practice, with particular attention to the specificities of social science data, including contextuality, sensitivity, and epistemic diversity. Through an exploration of European and global research infrastructures—such as CESSDA, CLARIN, DARIAH, and the European Open Science Cloud—as well as major implementation projects, the chapter illustrates how FAIR principles are operationalized at scale. It further discusses the Italian context, focusing on national initiatives such as DASSI and FOSSR as examples of localized yet globally connected FAIR ecosystems. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the cultural and institutional impact of FAIR on social science research practices, arguing that FAIR represents not merely a technical standard but a new social contract for responsible, inclusive, and sustainable knowledge production.