Joe Hamm from Michigan State University will argue how people’s trust depends on the kind of vulnerability they experience towards trustees such as public authorities and organizations.

Can you trust the police or similar institutions? Why is some people’s public trust stronger than others? Professor Joe Hamm argues that vulnerability is the key construct to answering such questions. While research has taken vulnerability as a condition that all trust relates to, the nature of vulnerability has rarely been attended to. Building on a trilogy of studies he conducted that investigate public vulnerability to the police and other current work, Hamm’s talk will shed light on how different experiences of vulnerability shape public trust.

Joe Hamm is an Associate Professor, jointly appointed in Michigan State University's School of Criminal Justice and Environmental Science and Policy Program. He works closely with a variety of governance organizations including police agencies, court systems, water infrastructure managers, public health authorities, and a variety of other state and federal entities with the overarching goal of contributing to a cross-boundary social science of trust. Prof. Hamm also leads the Teaching, Researching, and Understanding the Social Science of Trust (TRUSST) Lab at MSU. He is currently on sabbatical, visiting and collaborating at the Reinhard Mohn Institute of Management (RMI) at Witten/Herdecke University.

RMI Research Seminars provide a forum for discussing latest findings in research areas matching or complementing those of the RMI. Speakers are usually international, early-career and/or interdisciplinary-minded researchers.

The event is open to anyone interested. Please register by email.