Word: distrust
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...however easy it may be to understand, the global culture of distrust and disdain has disturbing implications. In Western Europe, for example, naysayers impede needed economic reforms. Government officials know they must implement sweeping policy changes to make their economies more competitive, but leaders who want to effect change must be concerned with the social consequences and their own reelection prospects. "We have to make strategic choices in the context of a strong questioning of our institutions and traditional systems of representation," says Sophie Boissard, a senior French civil servant who is establishing a policy-strategy unit for Prime Minister...
...Taken to an extreme, distrust gnaws away at some of the fundamentals of modern society. Why vote if all politicians are charlatans? Why work if all companies are crooked? Today, "Anyone with a beef can start a conspiracy theory," says Frank Furedi, a controversial sociology professor at Britain's University of Kent, who argues that deference to traditional authorities is being replaced by reverence for new ones. "We don't trust politicians but we have faith in the pronouncements of celebrities. We are suspicious of medical doctors but we feel comfortable with healers who mumble on about being 'holistic...
...however easy it may be to understand, the global culture of disdain is one fraught with risk. To be sure, it gives a voice to people run over by the people who run things. But taken to an extreme, distrust gnaws away at some of the fundaments of modern society. Why vote, if all politicians are charlatans? Why work, if all companies are crooked? Today "anyone with a beef can start a conspiracy theory," says Frank Furedi, a sociology professor at Britain's University of Kent, who argues that deference to traditional authorities is being replaced by reverence...
Trust matters. If the world habitually distrusts authorities that are accountable, however inadequately, we may find ourselves ill prepared to meet the huge challenges posed by globalization. "In periods of great economic and technological change, trust can reduce the political, social, economic and emotional friction that often locks systems and organizations solid," says John Elkington, founder of a nongovernmental organization (NGO) called Sustain Ability that focuses on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. NGOs such as Greenpeace and Amnesty International have led the attack against companies and governments, and the World Economic Forum poll shows that NGOs today are the organizations...
...powerful unions restrict access to low-skilled jobs, the groups in society most likely to get hurt are the poor and the marginalized. By refusing to recognize religious and ethnic diversity as an integral party of the new French nation, the government has only helped establish an atmosphere of distrust and fear. Instead of broadening economic opportunities, the French leadership has dragged its feet on economic reform and failed to broaden and deepen the common political and economic union across the continent...