Organizations conceal controversial policies behind stealth front groups disguised as grassroots voices.

Evidence

In moral disengagement at the individual level of agency, individuals try to sanitize and sanctify detrimental activities that are within their sphere of control and shift the responsibility for the activities elsewhere in the chain of command. Proxy agency is widely used by organizations to shield themselves from controversial policies they promote, usually through proxy front groups masquerading as the independent, grassroots voice of the general public. Their mission is disguised under a misleading title with no disclosure of their sponsors. Critics call such pseudo grassroots Astroturf and refer to stealth industry proxies as Astroturfers. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 131

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘Astroturf’ and ‘Astroturfers’ — fake grassroots advocacy fronts funded by undisclosed sponsors.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in how institutions manufacture legitimacy and stealth influence — parallels the Milgrom/Roberts institutions work on how reputation and institutional facades are maintained. — connects to: Well-funded national advocacy organizations signal grassroots engagement’s absence — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 504
• SEED: Angle for an essay on how the term ‘Astroturf’ exposes the corporate domestication of grassroots political authenticity — how fake populism is manufactured.