This Thing Called Trust: Civic Society in Britain

There is widespread cynicism regarding the conduct of politicians and the performance of government and this cynicism has increased while conventional forms of political participation have declined. Undoubtedly, one word has dominated the political period since the late 1990s - trust. But what does it mean to trust others? What role does trust play in civic society? How can we explore it across countries? What has happened to trust of government in Britain and what does this mean for citizen-government relations? This book addresses all of these questions and more in a way that will challenge and engage students, scholars, and thinkers across the social sciences.

This Thing Called Trust provides a detailed theoretical analysis of the research about trust, civic society and society capital. The author takes a comparative approach, considering the variations in both interpersonal (social) trust and trust in governmental institutions in European countries and in the U.S. He uniquely provides a complementary empirical analysis which connects discussions of the individual psychology of trust with understandings of its cultural and institutional roots at more aggregate (state or country) level.

PAUL STONEMAN is a Researcher at the Chimera Institute, University of Essex.