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Modern institutions between trust and fear: elements for an interpretation of legitimation through expertise

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Natural disasters, transportation accidents, spies, famines and droughts, serial killers, sex addiction, fluoridation, terrorism, rock music, assassination, global warming, Willie Horton, wrinkles, ozone depletion, Satanism, aging… What aspect of life, from the most momentous to the most trivial, has not become a workstation in the mass production line of fear?

Brian Massumi –“The Politics of Everyday Fear”.

Abstract

The article deals with the ambiguous relation between fear and expertise, and examines how it affects institutions’ legitimation. In contemporary societies the so-called expert systems can be considered as powerful trust creators. However their power can also cause fear, as their control over the majority of everyday life tasks can have a “disabling” effect on lay people. This double-edged role deeply influences the relation between citizens and institutions, the latter considerably relying on expertise in order to be perceived as rational actors. Fear, therefore, can be considered as a central element in determining the legitimacy of institutions in modern societies.

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Notes

  1. Different authors give empirical evidences of the impact of socio-economical factors on fears and on the way in which fear is experienced (e.g. Liska et al. 1982; Glassner 1999).

  2. The well known term “politics of fear” refers to decision makers’ promotion and use of audience beliefs and assumptions about danger, risk, and fear in order to achieve certain policy goals (Altheide 2003, 2006, 15).

  3. Sen, for example, often refers to the old story of Buridan’s ass, which died of starvation in front of two identical haystacks between which it was not able to choose rationally. In that case, a casual choice would have been perfectly justified (Sen 2000).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, University of Turin, Lungodora Siena 100/A, 10153, Turin, Italy

    Sandro Busso

  2. Centro de Investigação e Estudos de Sociologia (CIES-IUL), Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Edifício ISCTE, Av. das Forças Armadas, 1649-026, Lisbon, Portugal

    Sandro Busso

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Busso, S. Modern institutions between trust and fear: elements for an interpretation of legitimation through expertise. Mind Soc 13, 247–256 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-014-0153-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-014-0153-9

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