An official website of the United States government
Abstract BackgroundTo support public health researchers and advocates seeking to challenge the influence of powerful commercial actors on health, it is necessary to develop a deeper understanding of corporate political activities. This project explores political science scholarship analysing lobbying to identify new datasets and research methods that can be applied to public health and stimulate further research and advocacy. MethodsWe undertook a systematic scoping review of peer-reviewed and grey literature reports analysing the practice of lobbying. Titles and abstracts of 4533 peer-reviewed and 285 grey literature reports were screened, with 233 peer-reviewed and 280 grey literature reports assessed for eligibility. We used a two-stage process for data extraction. In stage 1, we collected two pieces of information from all included studies: data sources and indicators used to measure lobbying. For the second stage, data extraction was limited to 15 studies that focused on meetings. ResultsThe most common indicators used to measure lobbying activity were: registrations of active lobbyists; expenditure on lobbying; meetings; written comments and submissions made to government consultations; bills; and committee participation. A range of different data sources were used to analyse lobbying, including from governments, not-for-profits and commercial sources. All 15 studies analysing lobbyist meetings were from high-income contexts. The studies analysed three key variables: the types of government actors targeted by lobbying; the policies of interest; and the lobbyists and/or their clients. The studies used a range of taxonomies to classify policy issues and the types of actors engaged in lobbying. All studies discussed challenges with accessing and analysing lobbying data. ConclusionsThere is enormous potential for public health research and advocacy concerned with commercial lobbying to learn from political science scholarship. This includes both conceptual frameworks and sources of empirical data. Moreover, the absence of good quality transparency internationally emphasises the importance of advocacy to support policy change to improve the quality of political transparency to make it easier to monitor commercial lobbying.
more »
« less
Public concerns and connected and automated vehicles: safety, privacy, and data security
Abstract One dimension of the emerging politics of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) is the development of public concerns over their societal implications and associated policy issues. This study uses original survey data from the United States to contribute to the anticipation of future policy and political issues for CAVs. Several studies have surveyed the public regarding CAVs; however, there are few studies that highlight the multidimensional public concerns that CAVs will most likely bring. The study breaks down the concept of “public” by showing that the demographic variables of gender, age, race, ethnicity, income, location (rural, suburban, urban), and political ideology (conservative, moderate, liberal) are significantly associated with three of the most salient public concerns to date (safety, privacy, and data security). Furthermore, the effects of demographic variables also vary across the type of policy issue. For example, women tend to be more concerned about safety than their male counterparts, and Hispanics (Latinx) tend to be more concerned about privacy than non-Hispanics. The research shows how the social scientific analysis of the “politics” of CAVs will require attention to the variegated connections between different types of public concern and different demographic variables.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1743772
- PAR ID:
- 10488140
- Publisher / Repository:
- Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2662-9992
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
The past decade in the US has been one of the most politically polarizing in recent memory. Ordinary Democrats and Republicans fundamentally dislike and distrust each other, even when they agree on policy issues. This increase in hostility towards opposing party supporters, commonly called affective polarization, has important ramifications that threaten democracy. Political science research suggests that at least part of this polarization stems from Democrats' misperceptions about Republicans' political views and vice-versa. Therefore, in this work, drawing on insights from political science and game studies research, we designed an online casual game that combines the relaxed, playful nonpartisan norms of casual games with corrective information about party supporters' political views that are often misperceived. Through an experiment, we found that playing the game significantly reduces negative feelings toward outparty supporters among Democrats, but not Republicans. It was also effective in improving willingness to talk politics with outparty supporters. Further, we identified psychological reactance as a potential mechanism that affects the effectiveness of depolarization interventions. Finally, our analyses suggest that the game versions with political content were rated to be just as fun to play as a game version without any political content suggesting that, contrary to popular belief, people do like to mix politics and play.more » « less
-
With the growth of commercial and recreational use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones), there is increasing attention to the need for regulation. A systematic review is conducted using a multiple comparative perspective: across three political jurisdictions (the United States, the European Union, and Japan) and across two areas of societal implication and policy (i.e., privacy and safety), with additional comparisons drawn from regulations for related cyber-physical systems. The multiple comparative analysis conducted in this paper shows that safety is a much more salient concern than privacy. Moreover, safety is focused on technical features of the UAVs, registration and certification, and differentiation by use case. Privacy regulations tend to follow broader digital privacy guidelines. Although there are some privacy rules that are UAV-specific, many of them do not yet directly address privacy challenges that are specific for UAVs. Additional comparisons with safety and privacy policies for automated vehicles and the smart grid reveal areas of potential development for harmonization and policy guidance. The study concludes with ten recommendations for future policy development.more » « less
-
With the increasingly aging workforce in the construction industry, understanding age-related differences in the adoption and use of wearable devices is crucial, particularly as privacy concerns pose significant barriers to implementation. While previous studies have addressed challenges older workers experience in construction, limited research has explored how wearable technologies specifically impact workers across different age groups. This study investigates older and younger construction workers' attitudes, perceptions, and interactions with employer-provided wearable devices. A comprehensive survey examined key factors such as privacy concerns, data ownership issues, mental-related data privacy, and the effects of different feedback methods on safety and performance. The findings reveal that while both older and younger workers generally hold positive attitudes towards wearable devices, older workers exhibit significantly higher privacy concerns, particularly regarding collecting mental-related data, which can lead to psychological resistance. Additionally, visual feedback was identified by both groups as the most distracting, negatively impacting safety and performance, while haptic feedback emerged as the preferred method, having the least lowering effect. These insights emphasize the need for tailored strategies in designing and implementing wearable devices to address the distinct preferences and concerns of diverse age groups, ultimately improving safety and usability in high-risk construction environments.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) aim at integrating sensing, control, analysis, and communication technologies into travel infrastructure and transportation to improve mobility, comfort, safety, and efficiency. Car manufacturers are continuously creating smarter vehicles, and advancements in roadways and infrastructure are changing the feel of travel. Traveling is becoming more efficient and reliable with a range of novel technologies, and research and development in ITS. Safer vehicles are introduced every year with greater considerations for passenger and pedestrian safety, nevertheless, the new technology and increasing connectivity in ITS present unique attack vectors for malicious actors. Smart cities with connected public transportation systems introduce new privacy concerns with the data collected about passengers and their travel habits. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive classification of security and privacy vulnerabilities in ITS. Furthermore, we discuss challenges in addressing security and privacy issues in ITS and contemplate potential mitigation techniques. Finally, we highlight future research directions to make ITS more safe, secure, and privacy-preserving.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01110-x
