Description
Book SynopsisBetrayal has a deep fascination. It captures our imagination in part because we have all betrayed or been betrayed, in small or large ways. Despite this there has been little serious work on the subject. It was this absence that inspired this book.As Akerstrom notes, betrayal is something that most people have encountered at some point in their lives. She defines betrayal as a breach of trust, when information is shared beyond an agreed upon boundary of relations, whether that boundary is a pair of friends or a nation. Taking as a point of departure Simmers work on secrets and secrecy, Akerstrom discusses categories of.betrayal, and conditions that influence its intensity. Sometimes the betrayer is seen as a hero and at other times a traitor; and sometimes there are competing loyalties. In certain situations, she reminds us, it is difficult to avoid betrayal or the perception of betrayal. Akerstrom discusses strategies people employ to avoid betraying, ranging from not telling, to maki
Table of Contents101: Introduction; 1: Betrayal and Betrayers; 2: Third Party Views; 3: Heroes or Traitors?; 4: Neutrality as Betrayal; 5: Avoidance of Betrayal; 6: A One-Context Analysis: Crime and Informers; 6a: Outcasts in Prison; 6b: The Social Construction of Snitches; 6c: Snitches on Snitching; 7: Cronstedt: A Concluding Illustration
