Trust in a Complex World

Enriching Community

Charles Heckscher

Moves beyond simplistic criticisms of social media and new communications technologies, addressing both the dangers of fragmentation and the potential for learning and widened understanding
Offers perspective on many polarizing debates, from climate change to inequality, by viewing them as based in differing principles of community.
Both academically rigorous and readable by non-specialists.
Addresses core issues of social capital and cohesion in contemporary society

2016 George R. Terry Book Award Winner

Trust in a Complex World

Enriching Community

Charles Heckscher

Description

Can we rebuild trust in a time of increasing conflict and paralysis? Or rather, can we build trust, for the first time, wide and strong enough to bring us together to work on the complex problems of our age?

Relations of trust have been weakened over the past century by a historic expansion of communication and cross-cultural interaction, and the advance of complex, fluid relationships. Now the rapid rise of the internet has accelerated the disruption. Many long for the comfort and security of relations in which one knew whom to trust and what to expect; yet at the same time they may embrace the dynamism and creativity that comes from mixing of cultures and perspectives.

This book explores current conflicts and confusions of relations and identities, using both general theory and specific cases. It argues that we are at a catalyzing moment in a long transition from a community in which the prime rule was tolerance, to one with a commitment to understanding; from one where it was considered wrong to argue about cultural differences, to one where such arguments are essential.

The development of this rich community is essential as well as difficult. Complex societies produce complex challenges, from climate change to inequality to the risk-laden opportunities of bioengineering, that demand collaboration among people with widely varying views. Such brewing crises cannot be worked through without far more deliberate discussion and cooperation, and higher levels of trust, than we have today. This book explores many challenges ahead and suggests some practical directions for resolving them.

2016 George R. Terry Book Award Winner

Trust in a Complex World

Enriching Community

Charles Heckscher

Preface: a Navigational Overview
1. Trust and Community
2. Past: Associational Community in the Modern Era
3. Present: The Decline of the Modern Community
4. Future Emergent: Rich Community and the Interactive Sensibility
5. Future Anticipated: Working Out the Rich Community
6. Collaboration: Working Together in a Rich Community
7. The Contest for Legitimacy
8. Conclusion
9. Theoretical Framework
10. Survey

2016 George R. Terry Book Award Winner

Trust in a Complex World

Enriching Community

Charles Heckscher

Author Information

Charles Heckscher, Professor, Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations

Charles Heckscher is a Professor at Rutgers University and co-Director of the Center for the Study of Collaboration in Work and Society. His research has focused on organization change and the changing nature of employee representation. He has also worked in many industries as a practitioner and consultant on processes of organizational development. Before coming to Rutgers he worked for the Communications Workers' Union and taught Human Resources Management at the Harvard Business School. His books include The New Unionism, White-Collar Blues, Agents of Change, and The Collaborative Enterprise.

2016 George R. Terry Book Award Winner

Trust in a Complex World

Enriching Community

Charles Heckscher

Reviews and Awards

2016 George R. Terry Book Award Winner

"A compelling work of social theory that illuminates the promise of an emerging 21st century institutional form: the "rich community" built on diversity and differentiated identities joined by collaboration and mutual adjustment. Professor Heckscher documents its rise and the fumbles and controversies along the way, arguing that the shared sensibility of this kind of loosely-bounded, fluid, Internet-enabled community is necessary to solve major world problems such as climate change, global conflict, or racial tensions. The book harks back to Weber in its emphasis on patterns of meaning, yet is highly relevant to the big questions of our time" -- Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School

"At a moment in which social scientists seem to be shying away from the big questions that animated classical social theory, Trust in a Complex World takes on the most significant problems of our time and addresses them in a fresh and compelling way. Building upon a deep foundation of social theory, knowledge of the social-science literature, and just plain erudition, the author argues convincingly that both traditional and communitarian forms of community are unequal to the challenges contemporary societies face, and (with appropriate caution and reflexivity) proposes as third model of community, better adapted to current conditions and inchoate in several contemporary institutions, that offers a potential solution. In both diagnosis and prescription, this is a book with which every social scientist - indeed, every educated citizen - will find it profitable to read and engage." -- Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University

"Our world seems to grow ever more fragmented, even as technology allows us to connect with others around the world on a daily basis. [Those on the political right and left both advocate for greater community, although they often mean different things.] Charles Hecksher's Trust in a Complex World lays out how we can build the trust we need to solve the big problems we face as a species. He advocates for a "rich community" that allows people to collaborate across the boundaries that traditionally separated us. [It is a hopeful book for an anxious age.]" -- Gerald F. Davis, Wilbur K. Pierpont Professor of Management, The University of Michigan

Winner of the 2018 Terry McAdam Book Award

2016 George R. Terry Book Award Winner

Trust in a Complex World

Enriching Community

Charles Heckscher

From Our Blog

George R. Terry Book Award winners - past and present

We are proud to announce that the winner of this year's George R. Terry Book Award is Trust in a Complex World, by Charles Heckscher. The George R. Terry Book Award is awarded to the book that has made the most outstanding contribution to the global advancement of management knowledge. What's more, a further two Oxford University Press titles were named as finalists this year.

Posted on August 2, 2016

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Hope from Paris: rebuilding trust

It has begun again: the age-old cycle of hate and counter-hate, self-justification and counter-justification, the grim celebrations of righteousness and revenge. In the US, conservative politicians play on it as demagogues always have, projecting strength and patriotism by refusing to take refugees from the lands terrorized by ISIS; my own governor, Chris Christie, tries to outdo his competition by arguing that even five-year-old orphans from Syria should be stopped and sent back, as if they are tainted by being from the same part of the world as the murderers.

Posted on December 8, 2015

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