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Too much trust in (social) trust? The importance of epistemic concerns and perceived antagonism

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  • Lennart Sjoberg
  • Misse Wester Herber

Abstract

Social trust has often been claimed to be an important determinant of perceived risk, a finding that, if true, has important consequences for risk communication. However, the empirical basis of the alleged relationship between social trust and risk perception is weak. Previous work has pointed to other facets of trust as being more important: trust in science and technology per se (epistemic trust) as well as belief in the existence of opposed interests and goals (antagonism). In the present paper, these notions are further developed and empirically tested on data on trust (social and epistemic), risk perception, attitudes, voting intentions, trust and antagonism in siting a local high-level nuclear waste repository. Data were obtained in the spring of 2005 from two Swedish municipalities where site investigations were being carried out in preparation for building a repository for spent nuclear fuel. It was found that social trust had less weight in perceived risk than epistemic trust and perceived antagonism. Similar results were obtained when the dependent variables were attitude to the repository, and intention to vote pro or con a local repository in a future local referendum on the issue. Implications of the findings for risk communication are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Lennart Sjoberg & Misse Wester Herber, 2008. "Too much trust in (social) trust? The importance of epistemic concerns and perceived antagonism," International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(1/2), pages 30-44.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijgenv:v:8:y:2008:i:1/2:p:30-44
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Patricea Elena BERTEA & Ana MIHEI, 2014. "Social Trust – Differences And Similarities Between Eastern European Countries," EURINT, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 1, pages 29-37.
    2. Timothy C. Earle, 2010. "Trust in Risk Management: A Model‐Based Review of Empirical Research," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 541-574, April.
    3. Peter Modin & Sven Hansson, 2011. "Moral and Instrumental Norms in Food Risk Communication," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(2), pages 313-324, June.
    4. Longji Hu & Rongjin Liu & Wei Zhang & Tian Zhang, 2020. "The Effects of Epistemic Trust and Social Trust on Public Acceptance of Genetically Modified Food: An Empirical Study from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-20, October.

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