Rising distrust in 'expert' opinion maybe inevitable. What's driving it and what can we do about it?
Rising distrust in 'expert' opinion
maybe inevitable. What's driving it and what can we do about it?
Studies such as The 2017 Edelman Trust
Barometer has shown that across the world 'distrust in expert opinion
in Governments, Media, NGOs and Financial institutions is rising.
According to the report government was the least trusted institution, followed by the media, now distrusted in 82% of the countries surveyed' –
https://www.edelman.com/trust-barometer.
But wait, has the role of the expert
not always been an evolving one, undergoing constant metamorphosis to
fit the spirit of the times? It is important perhaps to note that an
understanding of the 'expert' as an all knowing human in whose words
and actions (in relation to their field) personal opinion, interest
or flaws should have little to no place is perhaps a very
misleading one. Indeed, we have seen that
human flaws and selfish interest has never really been that far
removed from 'expert' opinion. Is it time we redefine our notion of
'expertness'?
Distrust in expert opinion, as I see it,
is partly borne out of the demands of a rapidly changing world and
partly the increasing interconnected of society fuelled by
communication technologies. As communities evolve and the world
becomes more connected, the expert is forced to transform into a form more suited to changed beliefs, knowledge, and morals of
society.
Before, when everything happened behind
closed doors and links between communities were limited, society
lived with whatever the available 'expert' dished, many times costing lives and progress. With changing times and the advent
of new technologies, especially digital communication technologies
and increasing connectivity, everything has changed. The plethora of
perspectives and the speed with which these can be cross-checked against others and context has
grown enormously. However, it's important to note that in many
disconnected parts of the world communities are still very vulnerable
to the fallible opinion of the available 'expert', whatever the lived
consequences.
Key global shocks such as the recent
financial crisis that staggered economies across the world and the
Ebola crisis in West Africa (see link below) have shown
just how an insatiable drive for profit and personal gain can have
catastrophic impacts on society and the chaos that follows when
people lose trust in institutions
that serve them. Meanwhile, as we become increasingly
connected to a single web, technology companies are growing more
powerful in their ability to commercialise our information and time
spent on connected devices. Governments and political leaders are
also seen taking bold strides to exploit this new phenomenon. The
profit seeking arena created by the internet is making it
increasingly challenging for us to sieve through between dubious advertising
from true expert opinion.
When
distrust meets poverty, corruption and poor education: lives are lost
and even the potential benefits of increased connectivity could
be reversed. The Ebola outbreak (in my country and the 2008/09 Financial crisis stand as clear testimonies of trust failing in society. Please see my post on distrust in leadership and the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone: http://newvisionforeducation.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-country-this-beautiful-deserves.html
With increasing exposure to the flawed
and profit seeking expert many questions come to mind. How do we
reconcile with its real impact in our daily lives? Should we expect
to see a new evolution of what 'the expert' is and should be? What
changes in our morals and systems of education will get young people most
prepared? There are no simple answers here, yet the dangers of
living in world increasingly distrustful of expert opinion cannot be
overstated. We need urgent action. Science Trends suggests three ways
we can rebuild trust in scientists (experts): 'first by making
academic work, produced by experts and filled with facts and
theories, more accessible and fun, thus also humanising experts.
Second is to support organizations which connect the public to
experts and finally experts should use social media and other
public tools to speak directly to challenge misinformation
campaigns'. Please see the full article for more details:
https://sciencetrends.com/growing-public-mistrust-experts-digital-age/.
Rising distrust of expert opinion may
only be the genesis of a new epoch that calls into question our very
understanding of 'expert' and one that requires us to redefine our
trust structures as a society. Indeed, a striking finding of The
Edelman Trust Barometer study is the 'expectation that business
stand up, engage and in many instances lead society on some of the
more pressing issues of the day'. Is this a sign of shifting trust
structures? I fully agree with The
Edelman Barometer report's conclusion that “To
rebuild trust and restore faith in the system, institutions must step
outside of their traditional roles and work toward a new, more
integrated operating model that puts people — and the addressing of
their fears — at the center of everything they do”.
Finally,
we must understand that in an increasingly globalized society,
distrust in institutions in one country can have serious
ramifications for lives far removed from the immediate environment of
distrust. This means the rising distrust in institutions and expert
opinion has to be seen as a global challenge needing global action.
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