1 Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
2 University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Qual Health Res. 2019 Jul;29(8):1161-1173. doi: 10.1177/1049732318825153. Epub 2019 Feb 9.
We examine public trust and distrust in governmental food and nutrition authorities, through analyzing 727 letters sent electronically to the Swedish National Food Agency by lay people. Using thematic analysis, four themes were developed, defining public expressions of trust and distrust in official dietary advice. Trust was expressed as (a) seeking to confirm and clarify dietary advice or (b) seeking official arbitration between competing dietary advice. Distrust was expressed as (c) questioning and scrutinizing dietary advice or (d) protesting and resisting dietary advice. Notably, expressions of distrust employed discursive practices that both mirrored authoritative discourses and subverted official advice, by appealing to scientific language and "alternative" evidence. All letters positioned the agency as the ultimate authority on healthy eating; notwithstanding whether the agency's advice was to be followed or resisted. Thus, the letters revealed how the same authoritative discourses can simultaneously be a site of public trust and distrust.
我们通过分析普通民众向瑞典国家食品局发送的 727 封电子邮件，研究了公众对政府食品和营养机构的信任和不信任。使用主题分析，我们开发了四个主题，定义了公众对官方饮食建议的信任和不信任的表达。信任表现为（a）寻求确认和澄清饮食建议，或（b）寻求官方仲裁以解决相互竞争的饮食建议。不信任则表现为（c）质疑和仔细审查饮食建议，或（d）抗议和抵制饮食建议。值得注意的是，不信任的表达采用了话语实践，这些实践既反映了权威性话语，又通过引用科学语言和“替代”证据来颠覆官方建议。所有信件都将该机构定位为健康饮食的最终权威；无论机构的建议是被遵循还是被抵制。因此，这些信件揭示了相同的权威性话语如何同时成为公众信任和不信任的场所。
