Internal Corporate Strategies to Manufacture Doubt: A Case Study and Typology of Tactics

• In Event: 50620 - Section on Environmental Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 1: Corporate Power and Strategy Amid Environmental Problems

Abstract

It is well documented that industries use claims about science to delay regulatory interventions to restrict harmful substances or practices. Companies and trade associations target external audiences – including regulators, legislators, and the general public – and engage in public-facing strategies to control the availability of knowledge, the interpretation of research findings, and the utilization of data in decision-making. However, much less is known about the strategies that companies use internally to delay meaningful research on their own products, keep problematic findings hidden from company staff, and keep their employees quiet and/or in the dark. This paper analyzes internal corporate documents and the personal account of one scientist in one area of research - the analytical methods needed to detect chemicals in human blood and other media - to identify internal corporate strategies that delay the production of rigorous, policy-relevant research on the properties of products made by a particular corporation. We identify three general categories of internal corporate strategies used to manufacture doubt and delay knowledge production: organizational features that make internal discovery of risk less likely, strategies that control the production of new knowledge, and a pro-industry culture. This paper advances research on the corporate manufacture of doubt, organizational cultures, and environmental governance.

Authors

• Alissa Cordner, Whitman College

• Lauren Richter, University of Toronto

• Kris Hansen, Savanna Science Consulting