Trust and credibility in notifying about risk

Abstract

In the last twenty years the concept and dynamics of trust has come into focus of many social sciences. A concept of trust is widely identified as important to social interactions; however, it is rarely well defined or characterized. The notion of trust is playing an important role especially within the context of postmodern society, risk society. Making recourse to third-party expertise and knowledge is required whenever a context requires action, but one's own experience and individual knowledge is inadequate. If one's own knowledge no longer suffices, the very act of trusting in some external authority becomes a functional necessity. In the field of risk research there is now general agreement that trust in risk management institutions may be an important factor in perception and acceptance of risks. Furthermore, trust is seen as the key to successful risk communication, while distrust may be associated with stigmatization of technologies, such as nuclear power, as well as social amplification effects following major failures of risk regulation. While the transition from trust to distrust is often rather abrupt and is reflected in a crisis of confidence, the reverse, the regaining of trust, appears to be a slow and gradual process.

U poslednjih dvadeset godina, pojam i dinamika poverenja se nalaze u žiži interesovanja društvenih nauka. Mada je pojam poverenja uopšteno percipiran kao značajan za društvene interakcije, on je, ipak, retko valjano definisan ili objašnjen. Ideja poverenja igra važnu ulogu u kontekstu postmodernog društva - društva rizika. Korišćenje znanja i veštine treće strane je neophodno kad god kontekst zahteva akciju, a posedovano znanje i veština nisu dovoljni. Ako nečije lično znanje nije dovoljno, sam čin poverenja u neki spoljašnji autoritet postaje funkcionalna nužnost. U oblasti proučavanja rizika, danas postoji opšta saglasnost o tome da poverenje u institucije upravljanja rizikom može biti značajan činilac u percipiranju i prihvatanju rizika. Štaviše, poverenje se smatra ključem uspešne komunikacije rizika, dok nepoverenje može biti povezano sa stigmatizacijom tehnologije, kao što je, na primer, nuklearna energija, kao i efektom socijalne amplifikacije nakon krupnijih grešaka u upravljanju rizicima. Dok je prelazak s poverenja u nepoverenje često nagao i trenutan, a očitava se u krizi kredibiliteta, obratni čin, to jest, ponovno uspostavljanje poverenja je spor i postepen proces.