The Face-to-Face Principle: Science, Trust, Democracy and the Internet
About this ebook
We explain the change in technical detail, from a systematic analysis of the workings of the face-to-face to a high level setting-out of its dangerous political implications. The analysis includes field studies, reflexive examination, drawing on the wide experience of the authors, of the stickiness of the face-to-face in our own work and other institutions, and network analysis which explains the illusion of intimacy that can be generated inadvertently or maliciously. We look at the apparent effectiveness of techniques such as blockchain and the limits of their domain. New information is provided about the malicious use of disinformation by foreign powers. We dramatise the dangers to Western pluralist democracy through a personal accounting of the 2020 American election.
By drawing out the special features of face-to-face interaction and its constitutive role in creating societies, with science as the icon, the book sets out an agenda for civic education that can protect democratic institutions from the erosion of pluralism and the facile abandonment of trustworthy expertise. The authors conclude by returning to the themes set out at the start of the book, namely the crucial role played by trust in modern societies and the importance of face-to-face interactions in reproducing that trust, and the democratic institutions in which it should be invested.
About the author
Harry Collins is Distinguished Research Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University and Director of the Centre for the Study of Knowledge, Expertise and Science. He is a Fellow of the British Academy.
Robert Evans is a Professor of Sociology in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. Working in the field of science and technology studies, he is particularly interested in the nature of expertise and the Imitation Game.
Martin Innes is Director of the Crime and Security Research Institute and a Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. He is particularly interested in state-sponsored disinformation and misinformation.
Eric B Kennedy is an Assistant Professor of Disaster and Emergency Management at York University in Toronto, Canada. His research focuses on decision-making, expertise and knowledge systems in crisis contexts.
Will Mason-Wilkes is a Research Fellow in Popular Culture and Media in the Science, Knowledge and Belief in Society Research Group at the University of Birmingham.
John McLevey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Knowledge Integration and Department of Sociology & Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo, Ontario. He works primarily in the areas of computational social science, political sociology, environmental sociology, the sociology of science, and cognitive social science.
