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Trust and Legitimacy in Criminal Justice
by Gorazd Meško Justice TankebeThe book explores police legitimacy and crime control, with a focus on the European region. Using comparative case studies, the contributions to this timely volume examine the effects of a transition to democracy on policing, public attitudes towards police legitimacy, and the ways in which perceptions of police legitimacy relate to compliance with the law. Following these case studies, the authors provide recommendations for improving police legitimacy and controlling crime, in these particular sociopolitical environments, where the police are often associated with previous military or paramilitary roles. The techniques used by these researchers may be applied to studies for policing in other regions, with potential applications within Europe and beyond. Chapters present topical issues of crime, crime control and human emotions regarding crime, criminals, law enforcement and punishment in contemporary societies. This book will be of interest to researchers in criminology and criminal justice, as well as political science and public policy. This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in procedural justice and legitimacy, encounters between citizens and the state, the effectiveness of governmental institutions, and democratic development. It stands alone in its broad, cross-national contributions to understanding these issues. -Wesley G. Skogan, PhD, Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
Trust and Organizational Resilience (Routledge Studies in Trust Research)
by Iwona Otola Marlena Grabowska Zoran KrupkaIn a turbulent environment, companies face disruptive events and must build organisational resilience in order to thrive. This unique book offers new, cutting-edge research on how trust can build and develop resilience. The authors combine theoretical and empirical perspectives on the two issues of trust and organisational resilience in an environment that is difficult to predict. The authors firstly discuss the challenges the turbulent environment poses before exploring the influence of trust and providing practical case studies on topics such as brand trust, dynamic capabilities and business models. Examples are drawn from high-growth enterprises demonstrating first-hand how organisations that develop trust have survived turbulent conditions. This novel book is the first to combine the two disciplines of trust and resilience and will be a valuable reference for researchers and upper level students of strategic management and crisis management in particular.
Trust and Violence: An Essay on a Modern Relationship
by Jan Philipp ReemtsmaA philosophical investigation into the connections between trust and violenceThe limiting of violence through state powers is one of the central projects of the modern age. Why then have recent centuries been so bloody? In Trust and Violence, acclaimed German intellectual and public figure Jan Philipp Reemtsma demonstrates that the aim of decreasing and deterring violence has gone hand in hand with the misleading idea that violence is abnormal and beyond comprehension. We would be far better off, Reemtsma argues, if we acknowledged the disturbing fact that violence is normal. At the same time, Reemtsma contends that violence cannot be fully understood without delving into the concept of trust. Not in violence, but in trust, rests the foundation of true power.Reemtsma makes his case with a wide-ranging history of ideas about violence, from ancient philosophy through Shakespeare and Schiller to Michel Foucault, and by considering specific cases of extreme violence from medieval torture to the Holocaust and beyond. In the midst of this gloomy account of human tendencies, Reemtsma shrewdly observes that even dictators have to sleep at night and cannot rely on violence alone to ensure their safety. These authoritarian leaders must trust others while, by means other than violence, they must convince others to trust them. The history of violence is therefore a history of the peculiar relationship between violence and trust, and a recognition of trust's crucial place in humanity.A broad and insightful book that touches on philosophy, sociology, and political theory, Trust and Violence sheds new, and at times disquieting, light on two integral aspects of our society.
A Trust Betrayed: The Untold Story of Camp Lejeune and the Poisoning of Generations of Marines and Their Families (A Merloyd Lawrence Book)
by Mike MagnerWhile the big bad corporation has often been the offender in many of the world's greatest environmental disasters, in the case of the mass poisoning at Camp Lejeune the culprit is a revered institution: the US Marine Corps. For two decades now, revelations have steadily emerged about pervasive contamination, associated clusters of illness and death among the Marine families stationed there, and military stonewalling and failure to act. Mike Magner's chilling investigation creates a suspenseful narrative from the individual stories, scientific evidence, and smoldering sense of betrayal among those whose motto is undying fidelity. He also raises far-reaching and ominous questions about widespread contamination on US military bases worldwide.
Trust, Control, and the Economics of Governance (Routledge Studies in Trust Research)
by Philipp HeroldIn today’s world, we cooperate across legal and cultural systems in order to create value. However, this increases volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity as challenges for societies, politics, and business. This has made governance a scarce resource. It thus is inevitable that we understand the means of governance available to us and are able to economize on them. Trends like the increasing role of product labels and a certification industry as well as political movements towards nationalism and conservatism may be seen as reaction to disappointments from excessive cooperation. To avoid failures of cooperation, governance is important – control through e.g. contracts is limited and in governance economics trust is widely advertised without much guidance on its preconditions or limits. This book draws on the rich insight from research on trust and control, and accommodates the key results for governance considerations in an institutional economics framework. It provides a view on the limits of cooperation from the required degree of governance, which can be achieved through extrinsic motivation or building on intrinsic motivation. Trust Control Economics thus inform a more realistic expectation about the net value added from cooperation by providing a balanced view including the cost of governance. It then becomes clear how complex cooperation is about ‘governance accretion’ where limited trustworthiness is substituted by control and these control instances need to be governed in turn. Trust, Control, and the Economics of Governance is a highly necessary development of institutional economics to reflect progress made in trust research and is a relevant addition for practitioners to better understand the role of trust in the governance of contemporary cooperation-structures. It will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of economics and business management, institutional economics, and business ethics. Note that this work is the first of its kind that explicitly reflects on the societal realities, how these drive the assumption setting process, and how these assumptions influence the theory outcome.
Trust, Courts and Social Rights: A Trust-Based Framework for Social Rights Enforcement (Cambridge Studies in Constitutional Law)
by null David VitaleTrust, Courts and Social Rights proposes an innovative legal framework for judicially enforcing social rights that is rooted in public trust in government or 'political trust'. Interdisciplinary in nature, the book draws on theoretical and empirical scholarship on the concept of trust across disciplines, including philosophy, sociology, psychology and political theory. It integrates that scholarship with the relevant public law literature on social rights, fiduciary political theory and judicial review. In doing so, the book uses trust as an analytical lens for social rights law – importing ideas from the scholarship on trust into the social rights literature – and develops a normative argument that contributes to the controversial debate on how courts should enforce social rights. Also global in focus, the book uses cases from courts in Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America to illustrate how the trust-based framework operates in practice.
Trust, Digital Business and Technology: Issues and Challenges (Routledge Studies in Trust Research)
by Joanna Paliszkiewicz, Jose Luis Guerrero Cusumano, and Jerzy GołuchowskiTrust, Digital Business and Technology: Issues and Challenges presents and discusses the main issues and challenges related to digital trust and information technologies. The subject of trust is relevant to both practitioners and researchers. It is widely recognized and confirmed that trust, especially mutual trust, when it is built at the right level, reduces the risk of interaction and increases the collaboration between partners. Readers will gain from this book theoretical and practical knowledge on digital trust; theoretically, well-grounded knowledge on digital trust and related concepts, empirically validated by practice. Most authors have taken innovative approaches to consider issues highlighting a selected aspect of the core theme of this book. The intended audiences of this book are professionals, scholars, and students.
Trust, Impact, and Fundraising for Nonprofits: How meaningful ethics and strategic evaluation can multiply your revenue and expand your program
by Kenneth H. PhillipsDistilling decades of leadership expertise into an effective framework, this is a practical guidebook for nonprofits around the globe, with practical recommendations for the urgently needed steps to make this a better world. Charities in the United States and NGOs globally need to overcome two glaring and persistent weaknesses in the eyes of potential donors: trustworthiness and effectiveness. After examining possible causes for these deficits, fundraising and organizational development guru Ken Phillips guides readers through the process that leads to greater trust and respect by donors, better results for beneficiaries, significantly increased funding, and better and bigger programs. Alongside helpful worksheets, he presents seven steps to make sure ethics are meaningful, eight disciplines to ensure programs achieve good results, and a communications approach to demonstrate responsibility and accountability, all interwoven with inspiring case studies from his own international experience and other organizations’ stories. Staff and volunteers at registered nonprofits around the world, as well as any individual or group raising funds more informally, will value this guide to empower organizations to win trust, raise more funds, and achieve greater program impact.
Trust in Epistemology (Routledge Studies in Trust Research)
by Katherine DormandyTrust is fundamental to epistemology. It features as theoretical bedrock in a broad cross-section of areas including social epistemology, the epistemology of self-trust, feminist epistemology, and the philosophy of science. Yet epistemology has seen little systematic conversation with the rich literature on trust itself. This volume aims to promote and shape this conversation. It encourages epistemologists of all stripes to dig deeper into the fundamental epistemic roles played by trust, and it encourages philosophers of trust to explore the epistemological upshots and applications of their theories. The contributors explore such issues as the risks and necessity of trusting others for information, the value of doing so as opposed to relying on oneself, the mechanisms underlying trust’s strange ability to deliver knowledge, whether depending on others for information is compatible with epistemic responsibility, whether self-trust is an intellectual virtue, and the intimate relationship between epistemic trust and social power. This volume, in Routledge’s new series on trust research, will be a vital resource to academics and students not just of epistemology and trust, but also of moral psychology, political philosophy, the philosophy of science, and feminist philosophy – and to anyone else wanting to understand our vital yet vulnerable-making capacity to trust others and ourselves for information in a complex world.
Trust in Medicine: Its Nature, Justification, Significance, and Decline (Cambridge Bioethics and Law)
by Markus Wolfensberger Anthony WrigleyOver the past decades, public trust in medical professionals has steadily declined. This decline of trust and its replacement by ever tighter regulations is increasingly frustrating physicians. However, most discussions of trust are either abstract philosophical discussions or social science investigations not easily accessible to clinicians. The authors, one a surgeon-turned-philosopher, the other an analytical philosopher working in medical ethics, joined their expertise to write a book which straddles the gap between the practical and theoretical. Using an approach grounded in the methods of conceptual analysis found in analytical philosophy which also draws from approaches to medical diagnosis, the authors have conceived an internally coherent and comprehensive definition of trust to help elucidate the concept and explain its decline in the medical context. This book should appeal to all interested in the ongoing debate about the decline of trust - be it as medical professionals, medical ethicists, medical lawyers, or philosophers.
Trust in Organizations: Frontiers of Theory and Research
by Roderick M Kramer Tom TylerTrust plays a central role in organizational life. It facilitates exchanges among individuals, enhances cooperation and coordination, and contributes to more effective relationships. This volume brings together a cross-disciplinary group of contributors to present some of the latest, most exciting conceptual perspectives in the field and to demonstrate a variety of new methodological approaches to the study of trust. It includes discussions on: the psychological and social antecedents of trust; the effects of social and organizational structures on trust; and the broad effects of trust on organizational functioning.
Trust in Social and Business Relations: Theory and Practice (Routledge Studies in Trust Research)
by Joanna Paliszkiewicz Kuanchin Chen Marta MendelIn the dynamic landscape of the digital era, where interactions span from the personal touch of face-to-face conversations to the vast, interconnected world of the internet, understanding trust has never been more crucial. Trust in Social and Business Relations: Theory and Practice provides a groundbreaking exploration of the multifaceted nature of trust in our modern society.This insightful book navigates the reader through the intricate web of trust in digital and traditional contexts. Across its four compelling parts, the book examines the evolution of human relations in the digital age, investigates the role of trust in various social and business scenarios, explores the dynamics of trust in specific industries, and discusses the broader implications of trust in national and international spheres.With contributions from esteemed academics and industry experts around the globe, this book delves into pressing issues such as the impact of social media on business relationships, the challenges of romantic connections in cyberspace, and the evolving trust dynamics in industries like mobile payments and smart hotels. It also tackles significant themes like trust in government, the nuances of international business negotiations, and the emerging trust paradigms in smart city-port-maritime nexus.The book is not just an academic exploration; it's a vital resource for business professionals, policymakers, and anyone interested in the complexities of trust in our interconnected world. It offers a unique blend of theoretical insights and practical perspectives, making it an indispensable guide for navigating the challenges and opportunities of building trust in the digital age. This book is a must-read for those seeking to understand the delicate balance of trust in the tapestry of modern human relationships.
Trust in the European Union in Challenging Times: Interdisciplinary European Studies
by Antonina Bakardjieva Engelbrekt Niklas Bremberg Anna Michalski Lars Oxelheim<p>This is the first book in the Interdisciplinary European Studies collection. This volume provides an interdisciplinary perspective on trust in the EU from the vantage point of political science, law and economics. It applies insights from a number of different dimensions – political institutions, legal convergence in criminal and civil law, social trust, digitalization, the diffusion of political values and norms, monetary convergence and the legitimacy of political systems – to approach the highly complex issue of trust in the EU in a clear-sighted, relevant and insightful manner. <p>Written by renowned experts in the field, the style is accessible and reader-friendly, yet concise, knowledgeable and thought-provoking. The individual chapters combine up-to-date research findings with reflections on on-going political debates and offer useful, concrete ideas on what steps the EU could take to address the challenge of trust. The book provides the reader with invaluable insights into how trust, or rather the lack of trust, poses a challenge to the future of the social, economic and political developments in the EU. It is a must-read for policy-makers, students and interested members of the public who feel concerned by the future of Europe.</p>
Trust in the Law: Encouraging Public Cooperation with the Police and Courts Through
by Tom R. Tyler Yuen HuoPublic opinion polls suggest that American's trust in the police and courts is declining. The same polls also reveal a disturbing racial divide, with minorities expressing greater levels of distrust than whites. Practices such as racial profiling, zero-tolerance and three-strikes laws, the use of excessive force, and harsh punishments for minor drug crimes all contribute to perceptions of injustice. In Trust in the Law, psychologists Tom R. Tyler and Yuen J. Huo present a compelling argument that effective law enforcement requires the active engagement and participation of the communities it serves, and argue for a cooperative approach to law enforcement that appeals to people's sense of fair play, even if the outcomes are not always those with which they agree. Based on a wide-ranging survey of citizens who had recent contact with the police or courts in Oakland and Los Angeles, Trust in the Law examines the sources of people's favorable and unfavorable reactions to their encounters with legal authorities. Tyler and Huo address the issue from a variety of angles: the psychology of decision acceptance, the importance of individual personal experiences, and the role of ethnic group identification. They find that people react primarily to whether or not they are treated with dignity and respect, and the degree to which they feel they have been treated fairly helps to shape their acceptance of the legal process. Their findings show significantly less willingness on the part of minority group members who feel they have been treated unfairly to trust the motives to subsequent legal decisions of law enforcement authorities. Since most people in the study generalize from their personal experiences with individual police officers and judges, Tyler and Huo suggest that gaining maximum cooperation and consent of the public depends upon fair and transparent decision-making and treatment on the part of law enforcement officers. Tyler and Huo conclude that the best way to encourage compliance with the law is for legal authorities to implement programs that foster a sense of personal involvement and responsibility. For example, community policing programs, in which the local population is actively engaged in monitoring its own neighborhood, have been shown to be an effective tool in improving police-community relationships. Cooperation between legal authorities and community members is a much discussed but often elusive goal. Trust in the Law shows that legal authorities can behave in ways that encourage the voluntary acceptance of their directives, while also building trust and confidence in the overall legitimacy of the police and courts. A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation Series on Trust
Trust in the Law: Encouraging Public Cooperation with the Police and Courts
by Tom R. Tyler Yuen J. HuoBased on a wide-ranging survey of citizens who had recent contact with the police or courts in Oakland and Los Angeles, Trust in the Law examines the sources of people’s favorable and unfavorable reactions to their encounters with legal authorities. Tyler and Huo address the issue from a variety of angles: the psychology of decision acceptance, the importance of individual personal experiences, and the role of ethnic group identification. They find that people react primarily to whether or not they are treated with dignity and respect, and the degree to which they feel they have been treated fairly helps to shape their acceptance of the legal process. Their findings show significantly less willingness on the part of minority group members who feel they have been treated unfairly to trust the motives to subsequent legal decisions of law enforcement authorities.
Trust Inc.: How Business Wins Respect in a Social Media Age
by Matthew YeomansWe are entering the age of sustainability – a business era where every company, big and small, must adapt its way of doing business to meet the realities of climate change, a finite supply of natural resources, evolving attitudes about inequality, increasing digitisation and automation. At the same time companies must meet the demands of consumers as they adjust to this rapidly changing way of life. Supercharging this change in consumer behaviour is social media – a communications revolution that is democratising and disrupting society in ways never seen before. In this book, Matthew Yeomans explains why embracing sustainability is key to helping companies articulate their sense of purpose (and their reason to exist) in a world where social media is eroding trust in all institutions. The book shows how social media has made sustainability a mainstream concern for all society, how it compelled companies to be more authentic and accountable in their actions and how it will continue to shape how companies communicate the importance of sustainability to all of society. This book is a powerful guide for both communication and marketing professionals in business, especially Fortune 500, FTSE 250 companies and agencies, on how to use social media to communicate with their audiences and stakeholders in an authentic way. It is also a guide/text book for the growing field of sustainability communication in higher education.
Trust Law in Asian Civil Law Jurisdictions
by Lusina Ho Rebecca LeeThe reception of the trust in civil law jurisdictions has generated considerable conceptual debate internationally and in East Asia. In Trust Law in Asian Civil Law Jurisdictions, the authors: - provide a detailed comparative examination of trusts laws in Asian civil law jurisdictions from both operational and theoretical perspectives; - discuss the reception of the trust laws in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China and the challenges facing them; - engage in in-depth comparative inquiries as to how these Asian legal systems resolve questions pertaining to the trust; and - evaluate the distinctive features of Asian trusts and how they are moulded to suit the civilian legal frameworks within which they are situated. The analysis intersects with the Trento trust project in Europe, but also differs from it by providing valuable perspectives of the 'Asian' approaches to trusts researchers in Asia and the Anglophone world at large.
Trust Me: Frauds, Schemes, and Scams and How to Avoid Them
by Gordon G. LeekCon men, swindlers, snake-oil salesmen, carpetbaggers, and plain everyday liars and cheats - these names and the scoundrels behind them have been around for hundreds of years, though their dodges and deceptions have been refined with the passage of time. The worldwide growth of criminal fraud has mushroomed to such a degree that traditional law-enforcement techniques have been unable to cope effectively with the fallout. Criminal fraud is a billion-dollar industry and has become a staple of organized crime rivalling drugs and prostitution as major sources of income. In North America the courts and governments fail to treat these crimes with the seriousness they deserve, often placing the blame on victims, or at the very least making them culpable. Former Calgary police detective and fraud expert Gordon Leek illustrates how a variety of frauds work and how to protect yourself from them, including simple cheque scams, elaborate telemarketing schemes, Internet swindles, and identity theft.
Trust No One: Inside the World of Deepfakes
by Michael GrothausDeepfake technology can create video evidence of just about anything: Hollywood superstar Margot Robbie in an orgyChinese president Xi Jinping declaring nuclear warbasketball legend Michael Jordan winning the World Cup. The only limit is the imagination. In a time where fake news and disinformation is becoming harder and harder to identify, it is more essential than ever to understand the dark origins of deepfakes. Journalist Michael Grothaus goes down the rabbit hole as he interviews the often morally dubious, yet incredibly skilled creators of this content. It's a journey that opens a window into the communities transforming reality. Challenging, enlightening and terrifying, Trust No One asks the question other people are too scared to: what happens when you can no longer believe your own eyes?'Michael Grothaus takes a hard look at the growth of deep fakes, examining cases that demonstrate the threats presented by morally dubious creators. From the personal to political, the impact of deep fakes is considered carefully by Grothaus, both on the victims and on society as a whole, creating an essential picture of a growing trend in disinformation.' Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat
Trust No One: Inside the World of Deepfakes
by Michael GrothausDeepfake technology can create video evidence of just about anything: Hollywood superstar Margot Robbie in an orgyChinese president Xi Jinping declaring nuclear warbasketball legend Michael Jordan winning the World Cup. The only limit is the imagination. In a time where fake news and disinformation is becoming harder and harder to identify, it is more essential than ever to understand the dark origins of deepfakes. Journalist Michael Grothaus goes down the rabbit hole as he interviews the often morally dubious, yet incredibly skilled creators of this content. It's a journey that opens a window into the communities transforming reality. Challenging, enlightening and terrifying, Trust No One asks the question other people are too scared to: what happens when you can no longer believe your own eyes?'An alarming look at deepfakes' The Sunday Times'Michael Grothaus takes a hard look at the growth of deep fakes, examining cases that demonstrate the threats presented by morally dubious creators. From the personal to political, the impact of deep fakes is considered carefully by Grothaus, both on the victims and on society as a whole, creating an essential picture of a growing trend in disinformation.' Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat
Trust No One: Inside the World of Deepfakes
by Michael GrothausDeepfake technology can create video evidence of just about anything: Hollywood superstar Margot Robbie in an orgy; Chinese president Xi Jinping declaring nuclear war; basketball legend Michael Jordan winning the World Cup. The only limit is the imagination. In a time where fake news and disinformation is becoming harder and harder to identify, it is more essential than ever to understand the dark origins of deepfakes. Journalist Michael Grothaus goes down the rabbit hole as he interviews the often morally dubious, yet incredibly skilled creators of this content. It's a journey that opens a window into the communities transforming reality. Challenging, enlightening and terrifying, this audiobook asks the question other people are too scared to: what happens when you can no longer believe your own eyes?(P) 2021 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Trust, Organizations and the Digital Economy: Theory and Practice (Routledge Advances in Management and Business Studies)
by Joanna PaliszkiewiczTrust is a pervasive catalyst of human and business relationships that has inspired interest in researchers and practitioners alike. It has been shown to enhance engagement, communication, organizational performance, and online activities. Despite its role to cultivate cooperation, knowledge-sharing, and innovation, trust through digital means or even trust in digital media has presented new opportunities and challenges in society. Examples include a wider and faster dissemination of trust-influencing messages, and richer options of digital cues that engage, disrupt, or even transform how trust is formulated. Despite that, trust helps people to live through risky and uncertain situations, and the many capabilities enabled on the digital platforms have made the formation and sustaining of trust very different compared to traditional means. Trust in today’s digital environment plays an important role and is intertwined with concepts including reliability, quality, and privacy. This book aims to bring together the theory and practice of trust in the new digital era and will present theoretical and practical foundations. Trust is not given; we must work to build it, but it is a very fragile and intangible asset once built. It is easy to destroy and challenging to rebuild. Researchers, academics, and students in the fields of management, responsibility, and business ethics will gain knowledge on trust and related concepts, learn about the theoretical underpinnings of trust and how it sustains itself through digital dissemination, and explore empirically validated practice regarding trust and its related concepts.
Trust, Power and Public Sector Leadership: A Relational Approach (Routledge Studies in Trust Research)
by Steen VallentinTrust, Power and Public Sector Leadership: A Relational Approach provides a critical theoretical treatment of trust in the realm of public management and governance. The public trust agenda is an antidote to rampant bureaucratic control and, in particular, the marketization and instrumentalization associated with New Public Management. The book approaches trust from a relational perspective that draws on insights from trust research, modern sociology and organization and management theory, while lending support to developments in New Public Governance. It provides a theoretical framework that distinguishes between institutional, economic, moral and relational trust and shows how a relational perspective is able to incorporate insights from the other paradigms in an inclusive approach to trust processes. Apart from providing a theoretical reading of the workings of trust in public organizations, the book addresses how trust relates to power and control along with notions of debureaucratization, post-bureaucratic organization and post-heroic leadership. It also shows how the trust agenda, in theory and practice, is related to social capital and thus efforts to strengthen social relations and collaboration in and around public organizations. Speaking of practice, the book takes its empirical point of departure in the Danish public sector. However, the aim of the book is not to promote the "High trust" Danish case as a benchmark or best practice. The aim is to theorize and help make sense of this particular experience by applying general theory to it and extracting general insights – with broader application – from its particular manifestations and outcomes. There is a need for more elaborate theorizing about trust and power in a public sector setting, and the Danish experience is useful as a starting point for this ambition.
The Trust Revolution: How the Digitization of Trust Will Revolutionize Business and Government
by M.Todd Henderson Salen ChuriWhile conventional wisdom dictates that people's trust – in the government, in corporations, in each other - is at a historic low, the rise of the internet is offering new ways to rehabilitate and strengthen trust. Uber is probably the best example of a new company that, on the surface, allows individuals with smartphones to get rides with strangers, but at a deeper level is in the business of trust. In The Trust Revolution, M. Todd Henderson and Salen Churi trace the history of innovation and trust, linking companies such as Uber with medieval guilds, early corporations, self-regulatory organizations, and New-Deal era administrative agencies. This book should be read by anyone who wants to understand how trust - and its means of creation - has the potential not only to expand opportunities for human cooperation, but also to reduce the size and scope of government and corporate control over our lives.
Trust Us, We're Experts
by Sheldon Rampton John StauberFearless investigative journalists Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber ( Toxic Sludge Is Good for You! and Mad Cow U.S.A.) are back with a gripping expos of the public relations industry and the scientists who back their business-funded, anti-consumer-safety agendas. There are two kinds of "experts" in question--the PR spin doctors behind the scenes and the "independent" experts paraded before the public, scientists who have been hand-selected, cultivated, and paid handsomely to promote the views of corporations involved in controversial actions. Lively writing on controversial topics such as dioxin, bovine growth hormone, and genetically modified food makes this a real page-turner, shocking in its portrayal of the real and potential dangers in each of these technological innovations and of the "media pseudo-environment" created to obfuscate the risks. By financing and publicizing views that support the goals of corporate sponsors, PR campaigns have, over the course of the century, managed to suppress the dangers of lead poisoning for decades, silence the scientist who discovered that rats fed on genetically modified corn had significant organ abnormalities, squelch television and newspaper stories about the risks of bovine growth hormone, and place enough confusion and doubt in the public's mind about global warming to suppress any mobilization for action. Rampton and Stauber introduce the movers and shakers of the PR industry, from the "risk communicators" (whose job is to downplay all risks) and "outrage managers" (with their four strategies--deflect, defer, dismiss, or defeat) to those who specialize in "public policy intelligence" (spying on opponents). Evidently, these elaborate PR campaigns are created for our own good. According to public relations philosophers, the public reacts emotionally to topics related to health and safety and is incapable of holding rational discourse. Needless to say, Rampton and Stauber find these views rather antidemocratic and intend to pull back the curtain to reveal the real wizard in Oz. This is one wake-up call that's hard to resist.