ABSTRACT
To some extent, social betterment is based on the presumption that all is not well in the world, and therefore betterment is necessary; and this is where the security professional comes in. But in order to make the sale work, the rhetoric of social betterment has to be accompanied by general feelings that the world is undesirable in the first place. Security industry professionals share with progressives their disaffection with society and have a strong belief in perpetual betterment, which is accomplished through the ingenuity of knowledgeable people such as themselves. But behind their rhetoric about justice and social betterment are bleak presumptions about our world. The shaking up, rolling with the changes, and future talk that are so much a part of the industry are part utopian sounding, but they are expressed with the explicit intent to sell equipment, to improve profits, and to bolster one's position in the industry.
