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Book Cover
E-book
Author Freese, Barbara (Barbara E.), author.

Title Industrial-strength denial : eight stories of corporations defending the indefensible, from the slave trade to climate change / Barbara Freese
Published Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2020]
©2020

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Description 1 online resource (vii, 346 pages)
Contents Introduction: A dangerous phenomenon -- A "more pleasing representation" : the alternate reality crafted by the slave lobby -- "A wonderful stimulant" : radium, risk and responsibility -- "The nut behind the wheel" : carmakers avoiding blame for highway deaths -- "How wrong one can be" : bias, tribalism and leaded gasoline -- "Our free enterprise system is at stake" : CFCs, ideology and manipulated uncertainty -- "Psychological crutches" : tobacco's mass-production of denial -- "Bottom line-nothing else matters" : the financial crisis and a culture of exploitation -- A "deceitful, hysterical, out-of-control rampage" : fossil fuels, climate denial, and distrust-building -- Conclusion: Shifting the social norm toward the public interest
Summary "This book tells the stories of eight major campaigns of corporate denial-the lies, delusions, and rationalizations that emerge when people working in competitive, profit-driven group enterprises are faced with powerful evidence that they are causing harm. Tobacco is the poster-child of this phenomenon, but denial comes from people selling many other risky products, creating workplace hazards, or releasing dangerous pollutants. In almost every case, the story begins with an exciting discovery-of, for example, a New World, a new element or chemical, a new means of mass production, or a new way of packaging financial risk. An industry races to exploit that discovery and succeeds, sometimes changing society along the way. And in each case this commercial activity causes a grave harm, to other people or the planet. Those outside the industry find evidence of this harm, raise the alarm, and a public debate ensues. Corporate representatives offer a flurry of denials, perpetuating the harm by blocking policies that would reduce it. The specific denials-which are the focus of this book-vary, but the themes echo from campaign to campaign. The stories in this book stand as a reminder of why corporate activity needs to be monitored, challenged, and regulated"-- Provided by publisher
Analysis anonymity
business
climate change
cognition
corporate denial
corporate greed
corporations
deception
delusion
democracy
ecology
economics
environment
environmental destruction
financial crisis
fossil fuels
global warming
investment products
leaded gasoline
market forces
money
morality
nonfiction
ozone destroying chemicals
ozone
politics
power
psychology
radium poisoning
science
slave trade
social norms
social psychology
social trust
tobacco
toxic chemicals
toxic waste
tribalism
unsafe cars
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-334) and index
Notes Description based upon online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed April 14, 2020)
Subject Industrial management -- Environmental aspects -- Case studies
Denial (Psychology) -- Case studies
Social responsibility of business -- Environmental aspects -- Case studies
Factory and trade waste -- Environmental aspects -- Case studies
PSYCHOLOGY -- Social Psychology.
Denial (Psychology)
Factory and trade waste -- Environmental aspects
Industrial management -- Environmental aspects
Genre/Form Case studies
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2019032754
ISBN 0520968859
9780520968851