Astroturfing Global Warming: It Isn't Always Greener on the Other Side of the Fence
Astroturfing Global Warming: It Isn't Always Greener on the Other Side of the Fence
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DOI：
10.1007/s10551-011-0950-6
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发表时间：
2011-12-01
影响因子：
6.1
通讯作者：
Rodrigue, Michelle
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Cho, Charles H.;Martens, Martin L.;Rodrigue, Michelle
Astroturf 组织是假草根组织，通常由大公司赞助，以支持任何有利于他们的论点或主张，或挑战和否认那些反对他们的论点或主张。它们构成了草根社会运动的企业版本。严重的道德和社会问题凸显了这种空穴来风的做法，特别是如果企业通过采取社会运动方法成功地影响了公众舆论。这项研究是受这一特定问题启发，探讨了人造草皮组织在全球变暖背景下的有效性，其中大型企业污染者有动机建立人造草皮组织，以削弱人类活动在气候变化中的重要性。我们进行了一项实验，以确定 astroturf 组织是否会影响用户对全球变暖原因的确定程度。结果表明，使用 astroturf 网站的人比使用草根网站的人更不确定全球变暖的原因以及人类在这一现象中的作用。因此，Astroturf 组织成功地促进了商业利益而非环境保护。除了引发多种商业道德问题外，人造草坪还对草根运动的合法性构成重大威胁。
Astroturf organizations are fake grassroots organizations usually sponsored by large corporations to support any arguments or claims in their favor, or to challenge and deny those against them. They constitute the corporate version of grassroots social movements. Serious ethical and societal concerns underline this astroturfing practice, especially if corporations are successful in influencing public opinion by undertaking a social movement approach. This study is motivated by this particular issue and examines the effectiveness of astroturf organizations in the global warming context, wherein large corporate polluters have an incentive to set up astroturf organizations to undermine the importance of human activities in climate change. We conduct an experiment to determine whether astroturf organizations have an impact on the level of user certainty about the causes of global warming. Results show that people who used astroturf websites became more uncertain about the causes of global warming and humans' role in the phenomenon than people who used grassroots websites. Astroturf organizations are hence successful in promoting business interests over environmental protection. In addition to the multiple business ethics issues it raises, astroturfing poses a significant threat to the legitimacy of the grassroots movement.