Jennifer Jacquet

Explores the social nature of shame, and the ways in which it might be used, sparingly and pointedly, to promote political change and social reform.

New Uses for an Old Tool

Is Shame Necessary?

Knowledge is power. Which is why the rich and powerful don't want you to have it. The Playbook is an exposé of the extraordinary lengths that corporations will go to in order to spread disinformation and deny the scientific facts - around climate change, public health risks and worker safety - when they don't suit their agenda. Written in the form of a corporate handbook for tobacco, oil and pharmaceutical company executives, it is a litany of obfuscation techniques, denial, delays and outright lies, including: how to recruit an academic 'expert' who is willing to compromise their integrity (or is just short of cash), how to massage the statistics, how to use legal and even physical intimidation against reporters and activists, and how, just as in a casino, to keep your customers comfortable, unquestioning, unthinking and playing along for as long as possible. Part satire, part social history, part guide to resistance, The Playbook is a charge sheet against the powerful. It shows us how, by understanding the methods and motives of disinformation campaigns, we may be able to outwit them.

How to Deny Science, Sell Lies, and Make a Killing in the Corporate World

The Playbook

An urgent, illuminating exploration of the social nature of shame and of how it might be used to promote large-scale political change and social reform. In cultures that champion the individual, guilt is advertised as the cornerstone of conscience. But while guilt holds individuals to personal standards, it is powerless in the face of corrupt institutions. In recent years, we as consumers have sought to assuage our guilt about flawed social and environmental practices and policies by, for example, buying organic foods or fair-trade products. Unless nearly everyone participates, however, the impact of individual consumer consciousness is ineffective. Is Shame Necessary? presents us with a trenchant case for public shaming as a nonviolent form of resistance that can challenge corporations and even governments to change policies and behaviors that are detrimental to the environment. Jennifer Jacquet argues that public shaming, when it has been retrofitted for the age of social media and aimed in the proper direction, can help compensate for the limitations of guilt in a globalized world. Jacquet leaves us with a new understanding of how public shame, when applied in the right way and at the right time, has the capacity to keep us from failing other species in life’s fabric and, ultimately, from failing ourselves.

From an astute observer of business behavior and expert in climate denial comes a thought-provoking explanation of how corporations delay, distract, and deflect blame and spread disinformation surrounding health issues, pollution, and climate change. “Brilliantly subversive and witty. If you want to be a vile, greedy capitalist, this how-to book will be a great help. And if you want to identify vile, greedy capitalists, it will show you how to recognize them. A landmark book.” —Brian Eno Are you a corporation out to make your fortune at any cost? Are you worried about “facts” and “experts” getting in the way of your profits? Do you wish you could make scientists, journalists, and anyone who asks questions about your suspect business practices disappear? Now you can. Whether you are selling tobacco, dealing in oil, or pushing pharmaceuticals, denying climate change or exploiting workers, The Playbook is here to help you obfuscate your way to what you want. Including how to: Massage the statistics to suit your needs. Or, even better, fund studies to make up some new ones Attract and cultivate university professors who have an axe to grind and are short of cash Make your problem somebody else’s problem—ideally the government’s Remember: Tame journalists, PR firms, think tanks, lawyers, and threats of physical violence are your friends! Follow these rules and you are guaranteed to make a killing. It’s economic sense, after all.

Die politische Kraft eines unterschätzten Gefühls

Scham

In our individualistic world, is shame an outdated, moralizing concept - or is it something that we can rediscover and use in a new way? What can we gain from redefining shame to help solve the key social and political issues of our time? In this urgent, illuminating book, Jennifer Jacquet argues that, if we want to make large-scale fixes, we need to become active citizens, ready to find creative ways to shame those who have the power to bring about political and social change but aren't. Individual guilt and modified consumption don't compare to the possibilities of using shame as a non-violent form of resistance. From the mimes hired by the mayor of Bogotá in the fight against bad driving behaviour to the online list published by the state of California singling out the top five hundred businesses and individuals who aren't paying their taxes, Jacquet uses real-life examples to show how shaming is relevant to the twenty-first century. Detailing how to change behaviour, she outlines seven habits of highly effective shaming that will allow us to make companies act ethically, hold governments to account when they ignore laws, and get more people to cast their vote. Shaming works best when used sparingly, but when applied in just the right way, in just the right quantity, and at just the right time, it can perhaps keep us from failing ourselves and the planet. 'Well argued, beautifully written, sophisticated and down to earth.' Sherry Turkle, MIT, Author of Alone Together 'Polluters, exploiters and other global parasites beware, the human community has just rearmed.' Joe Henrich, University of British Columbia

A trenchant case for the use of public shaming as a nonviolent form of resistance, Is Shame Necessary? explores how one of society's oldest tools can be used to promote large-scale political change and social reform. Examining how we can retrofit the art of shaming for the age of social media, Jennifer Jacquet shows that we can challenge corporations and even governments to change policies and behaviors that are detrimental to the environment. Urgent and illuminating, Is Shame Necessary? offers an entirely new understanding of how shame, when applied in the right way and at the right time, has the capacity to keep us from failing our planet and, ultimately, from failing ourselves.

Science is so powerful that the powerful want to control it. From the author of Is Shame Necessary?, a biting outline of corporate scientific denial and obfuscation techniques, highlighting the tactics used to contradict climate change, ignore health risks, and undermine worker safety. The Playbook is a handbook for tobacco, oil, and pharmaceutical company executives--epistolary non-fiction--advising whom to hire, how to recruit experts, how to obfuscate, and how to relentlessly and effectively challenge the threat of science, policy, reporters, and activists. Jacquet likens the machinery of deception and delays to a casino, with its deliberative architecture and design--the dimmed chandeliers, the comfortable furniture, the dealers, the drinks--to keep the customers inside comfortable and gambling as long as possible. The Playbook will help any business buy time if it is threatened by science, the most reliable form of knowledge the world has ever known. Part strategy, part social history, part resistance, The Playbook illuminates the methods and motives of many successful scientific denial campaigns, and the social forces that may outwit them.

Protecting the Corporation from the Risks of Scientific Knowledge

In Is Shame Necessary? rising star Jennifer Jacquet shows that we have to use shame if we want to bring about political change and hold the powerful to account In cultures that champion the individual, guilt is seen as the cornerstone of conscience yet it proves impotent in the face of corrupt corporate policies. Jennifer Jacquet persuasively argues that modern-day shaming is a non-violent form of resistance that can be used to bring about large-scale change. Shaming, Jacquet shows, works best when used sparingly, but when applied in just the right way and at just the right time, it can keep us from failing ourselves. 'Shaming is society's natural stabilizer and organic risk-management mechanism, and one that is ignored in modernity, particularly in the virtual world. Worse: it has been largely ignored by researchers before Jennifer Jacquet, whose book gives us an insightful treatment of a vital topic' Nassim Taleb, author of Antifragile

+++ Schämt euch – und verändert die Welt! +++ Wieder mit Plastiktüten nach Hause gekommen? Das Billig-T-Shirt aus dem Discounter war einfach zu günstig? Schon wieder Essensreste weggeworfen? – Es gibt viele Gründe, sich zu schämen. Und ebenso viele Gründe, endlich etwas zu ändern. Die Umweltwissenschaftlerin Jennifer Jacquet untersucht, inwiefern das Schamgefühl unser gesellschaftliches Miteinander bestimmt. Spannend und leicht verständlich erklärt sie die Ursprünge und die Evolution dieses für uns alle prägenden Gefühls. Sie macht deutlich, wie wichtig es ist, dass wir uns schämen – denn mit der Scham kommt die Erkenntnis. So entsteht ein brillanter Gegenentwurf zu allen bisherigen Einschätzungen dieses uralten Begleiters: Jacquet zeigt, wie wir über das Schamgefühl gesteuert werden und es als politisches Werkzeug für eine bessere Welt benutzen können. Ein äußerst kluges und provozierendes Buch einer der interessantesten jungen Wissenschaftlerinnen unserer Zeit.

Jennifer Jacquet

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