Trust and Fairness in the Management of Environmental Hazards

环境危害管理中的信任和公平

• 批准号: 0323451
• 负责人: Timothy Earle
• 金额: $ 19.32万
• 依托单位: Western Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-08-01 至 2006-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0323451&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Trust; Fairness; Management; Environmental; Hazards

A primary role of government agencies, such as those that responsible for the management of environmental risks, is to mediate among competing private interests, following fair, neutral procedures. To be effective, however, the procedures used by government agencies need not only to be objectively fair (i.e., meet accepted normative standards of fairness), they must be perceived as fair, accepted as being fair by the competing stakeholders. Although most government agencies invest large amounts of resources in objectively fair procedures (e.g., by insuring that all interested parties have opportunities to express their views on an issue), there is growing evidence that what is presumed to be objectively fair is often perceived to be unfair. This is the case, in particular, when members of the public believe that issues of great moral importance are at stake. When the outcomes of decisions violate the moral standards of stakeholders, then the procedures that produced the outcomes, whatever their objective properties, are likely to be judged to be unfair and illegitimate.This project is designed to explore the effectiveness of fair procedures in environmental risk management, an arena often characterized by the clash of morally significant values. Our approach is based on an analysis of the relations between trust and fairness. According to our formulation, the basis for trust between individuals (or between a person and an agency or its representative) is a feeling that important values are shared, that they are joined by a common social bond. It is this common bond that legitimizes the ways that members of the group solve problems. According to this view fairness is socially defined within groups, as opposed to being objectively defined across groups. In brief summation, fairness depends on the prior establishment of trust. Experimental surveys of general populations in both the United States and Switzerland will carried out to test our understanding of trust and fairness. Support for our approach would provide vital insight into how stakeholder involvement in environmental decision making-and democratic processes in general-could be made more effective, efficient, and fair.

政府机构的主要作用，例如那些负责管理环境风险的机构，是按照公平、中立的程序，在相互竞争的私人利益之间进行调解。然而，为了有效，政府机构使用的程序不仅需要客观上公平（即，符合公认的公平规范标准），还必须被相互竞争的利益相关者视为公平，接受为公平。虽然大多数政府机构在客观上公平的程序上投入了大量资源（例如，通过确保所有有关各方都有机会就一个问题表达他们的意见），但越来越多的证据表明，客观上被认为是公平的往往被认为是不公平的。当公众成员认为具有重大道德意义的问题处于危急关头时，情况尤其如此。当决策的结果违反利益相关者的道德标准时，产生结果的程序，无论其客观属性如何，都可能被认为是不公平和不合法的。该项目旨在探讨环境风险管理中公平程序的有效性，这是一个经常以道德重要价值观冲突为特征的领域。我们的方法是基于对信任与公平之间关系的分析。根据我们的表述，个人之间（或一个人与一个机构或其代表之间）信任的基础是一种重要价值观是共享的感觉，是一种共同的社会纽带将它们联系在一起的感觉。正是这种共同的纽带使群体成员解决问题的方式合法化。根据这种观点，公平是在群体内部社会定义的，而不是在群体之间客观定义的。简而言之，公平取决于事先建立的信任。将对美国和瑞士的普通民众进行实验性调查，以测试我们对信任和公平的理解。对我们方法的支持将使我们深入了解如何使利益相关者参与环境决策——以及一般的民主进程——更加有效、高效和公平。