From non-linear knowledge to non-linear trust

Abstract

This article is devoted to disclosing the idea of trusting knowledge, which is laid out in the monograph “Trusting knowledge in conditions of social turbulence: risks, vulnerabilities, security challenges”. The genre of the article/review allowed for presenting the key positions of the sociological conception and the results of empirical research conducted by the book’s authors (the research team of MGIMO University under the guidance of Professor S.A. Kravchenko), as well as for interpreting them while taking into account our own theoretical and methodological approaches to the phenomenon of trust and the results of its research. The article deals with concepts that have become the basis for the book - the concept of institutional trust in knowledge systems, and the concept of how the dynamics of institutional trust impact the system of producing and spreading knowledge. Highlighted is the novelty and originality of the author’s interpretations of scientific knowledge dynamics - from linear to non-linear knowledge. Following this, we present our own interpretations of the problem of non-linear trust - as a response to the ideas of the monograph’s authors on the dynamics of reflexive trust (from linear to non-linear). Special attention is paid to the criteria for evaluating scientific knowledge which bears credibility in the eyes of various social actors. The reflections on the book “Trusting knowledge in conditions of social turbulence: risks, vulnerabilities, security challenges” which this article/review contains fit into the broad context of the theoretical and methodological problems with studying the phenomenon of trust. Shown are possible paths for developing sociological research of trust, while taking into account the ideas presented in the monograph. © 2019, Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.