Back in 2009, I published Distrust, American Style: Diversity and the Crisis of Public Confidence. The book was largely written as a rebuttal to Robert Putnam’s argument that America’s diversity was the cause of diminished levels of public trust. That trust levels were (and remain) troublingly low was incontrovertible, but I argued that the culprit wasn’t diversity, but a pervasive loss of faith in a wide variety of American institutions–especially government. I wrote then and believe now that the remedy lies in policy reforms that would make American government (and businesses, nonprofits and religious institutions) worthy of public trust.
Rather than attempting to limit diversity through divisive measures such as building a wall between the United States and Mexico or imposing stricter immigration quotas, I emphasized the need to begin with government reforms: elimination of gerrymandering, electoral wins that reflect the popular vote, and proper functioning of checks and balances. (And this was before the horrifying decisions rendered by a Supreme Court dominated by Trump appointees.)
Research confirms the importance of public trust. Trump’s nasty, gutter-level approach to politics is only possible because we have seen a precipitous erosion of that foundation–the loss of a widespread belief that most people in government and the political class have the public interest at heart and are ethically and intellectually competent.
Because I spent so much time immersed in the literature documenting the importance of trust, I was interested to come across an article from the Guardian about Denmark, and how it became the world’s most trusting country. As the sub-head read, “There are real benefits to a society where people feel safe enough to leave their babies and bikes on the street. How have the Danes achieved this level of faith in their fellow citizens?”
Over the years, Denmark has emerged as the good faith capital of the world. Nearly 74% of Danes believe “most people can be trusted” – more than any other nationality. On wider metrics, such as social trust (trusting a stranger) and civic trust (trusting authority), Denmark also scores highest in the world, with the other Nordic countries close behind.
The article details the various ways Denmark’s trust manifests itself, but the effect is summarized in a statement by one young person:“You have the feeling that people have goodwill. I think it’s a top-down reaction. We have a system that supports, and that creates the baseline for our trust in each other.”
Exactly. It’s the integrity of the system.
America’s White Supremicists attribute Nordic public trust to the relative homogeneity of the population, but research suggests a different source: the welfare state.
“That was founded very much on mutual trust,” Rosenkilde says. Denmark has a universal model of welfare, which holds that all citizens have the right to certain fundamental benefits and services. In the UK and the US, we have a “residual model”: bare minimum benefits for the poorest and skeleton services for everyone but the richest. “I think the whole idea of people being as equal as possible is very much underpinning this trust,” Rosenkilde continues. “We have this connectedness because you don’t have a lot of people that are very poor or very rich.” Equality, Rosenkilde says, has decreased over the past three decades, as Denmark is caught up in the neoliberal drag of the globe: its Gini coefficient has crept up, but by that measure it’s still the sixth most equal country in the OECD.“
A nation is an imagined community,” Korsgaard says. “What does that mean? It means I’m able to think of myself as part of a community with someone I don’t know. And in order to do that, they have to look more or less like me. They cannot be super-different when it comes to class.” (Emphasis mine.)
Researchers admit that Denmark struggled as immigration made the population more diverse, but they emphasize the importance of class homogeneity–the absence of huge gaps in income–as a major reason the country has been able to cope with other kinds of heterogeneity. As one scholar put it, diversity required renegotiation. “OK, you can be part of this community, even though you’re not white, even though your birth language is not Danish,’ and luckily, I think that is more or less settled.”
As the article concludes, “This really is the most unbelievably equal country, and while trust is a constantly negotiated state, that appears to be a good place to start.”
In November, if we are very lucky, perhaps the U.S. will once again have a functioning government that can address income inequality and begin to restore both the rule of law and public trust.
Denmark has a government that truly represents its citizens whereas we have the best government money can buy.
GREAT column today, Sheila. It explains so much about how humans deal with one another on a large scale.
Remember St. Reagan? “… government IS the problem.” Republicans, sponsored by corporate/banking America wanted government out of the way so they could make more money. They still do, but the voraciousness of their greed has increased since the 1980s by orders of magnitude; see Project 2025 for evidence of that. Bank robbers want to ban the police too. Same. Same.
Marx discussed unregulated capitalism, and smart societies paid attention. The so-called “welfare state” is nothing more than an elected government serving and taking care of its citizens. What with the disgusting bigotry we currently see from the political right, the United States will never rise from the dung heap of its original sin, slavery.
Income inequality, the effects of inflation on the pocketbook for lower-income families, and the lack of opportunity are all issues that drive people toward the delusions that MAGA puts out, and should be addressed by Dems seeking office.
I agree with Vernon. Great column, Shiela. I always envision trust as a pyramid that layers family, neighborhood, community, regional and national. Civil healthy skepticism is basis for negotiating and nurturing trust at every level.
I also agree with Vernon.
I also agree with Vernon.
I recommend reading Heather Cox Richardson today. Every day really, but her message today pairs nicely with Sheila’s. Especially recommended for the doom and gloomers out there.
The problem has never been the total wealth available but rather its fair distribution and who is in charge of its distribution. We have for some reason decided that there is a connection between wealth and “success” and even morality as redefined. You know, like Mr. Trump, Mr. Musk and others who have vastly enriched themselves by the labor of others. As I sometimes write, Marx had the right diagnosis but the wrong treatment.
Thus why the DEMs are in a death spiral. They (driven by money from the rich and corporations) focus on identity politics (race, gender, ethnicity, geography) instead of class/wealth.
Sharon … I just finished reading Heather Cox Richardson, and I whole heartedly agree with your sentiments. Heather. Sheila. Kamala. My wife, MaLes of 53 years. My daughter, Katie, 40 plus years. My grand daughter, Caroline, eleven years. All holding court influencing what I now believe and say about the world around us. All women. And as a straight white man, I am all the stronger for it.
And that is why I am most comfortable voting for ,ala in November. 😊
Vernon nailed it this morning, and so did Sheila!
I’ll just add a quote from Paulo Freire about trust and oppression because I believe the oligarchy has absolutely no interest in people trusting each other. Our oligarchy is still using divide-and-conquer strategies to control “we the people.”
“They talk about the people, but they do not trust them; and trusting the people is the indispensable precondition for revolutionary change. A real humanist can be identified more by his trust in the people, which engages him in their struggle, than by a thousand actions in their favor without that trust.”
~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
I agree with Vernon. I would add that America has 2 original sins, and mine predates slavery – the annihilation of indigenous peoples. The native people understood living in harmony with their environment. The invaders (the Spanish and then other European nations) came to exploit whatever “treasurers” they could find. Remember, the original goal was to find a quicker route to the “Indies” to beef up the spice trade. And as we succeeded in wiping out most of the indigenous cultures (environmentally friendly) we replaced them with our culture of exploitation and greed and hence we are in an environmental crisis. Slavery was/is also based on exploitation and greed.
We have a lot of sinning to account for. God help us all.
Prior to Reagan – “Close enough for government work” meant high standards. It’s SO good that the government would accept it.
Post Reagan – “Close enough for government work” meant lazy and done to a minimum standard. It’s just good enough to not immediately fall apart.
Amazingly, the destruction of trust in the system hardly breaks into the top 10 issues Reagan caused.
I have enjoyed reading ALL the added comments. Seems as though everyone has something good to state – fancy that, would ya!
Matthew 15:19
19 For example, out of the heart come wicked reasonings, murders, adulteries, fornications, thieveries, false testimonies, blasphemies.
This is completely the opposite from, love your neighbor! Or, love your enemy as you might gain a brother! Or, treat others as you would like to be treated yourself!
These three quotes above, were re-quoted by Jesus Christ from the Mosaic law. Men have never had an interest on the whole, to do right by their fellow man. Historically, you would rather murder each other than to extend to helping hand, or show mercy.
Very limited even non-existent conscience, and very little if any discernment on behavior, and or watching out for the widows and orphans, as in James 1:27.
Jeremiah 17:9
9 “The heart is more treacherous than anything else and is desperate. Who can know it?
Romans 13th & 12th chapter—–
“Return evil for evil to no one. Provide fine things in the sight of all men. If possible, as far as it depends upon you, be peaceable with all men. Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but yield place to the wrath; for it is written: ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says Jehovah.’ But, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing this you will heap fiery coals upon his head.’ Do not let yourself be conquered by the evil, but keep conquering the evil with the good.”
Such an intelligent post, Sheila, and a solid reminder of the excellence of your earlier work; the comments are terrific and, frankly, encouraging, in just the way Heather Cox Richardson speaks this morning of those who keep the faith and plan and organize to save democracy. May I add more perspective, more concern, to this discussion? My colleague, David Mechanic, a medical sociologist and author of 40 books and countless articles, has explored the loss of trust in the medical context and it is very distressing, paralleling as it does the erosion of trust in public institutions generally. He finds that trust, the expectation that institutions and professionals will act in one’s interests, contributes to the effectiveness of medical care but, with the rapid privatization of medical care and the growth of managed care, trust has been diminished.
To my mind, any further erosion will only exacerbate the waning of trust in other institutions and organizations that require trust to function effectively. Building it, or, I should say, re-building it, will require community effort, not to mention creative thinking and courageous action on both sides of the equation.
Sheila came to speak to our church about 2 years ago (Unitarian Universalist church in Danville). I asked her to talk about freedom. She chose to talk about the tension between freedom and community, whence community makes demands, often related to beliefs and supposed morals (racism, sexism, suppression of LGBTIQ people, and rules about who is middle class, to name a few), and those rules are found to be restricting by many who then push away community
The discussions in at least two church forums after her visit were interesting. UUs can rarely agree on anything, but we all agreed the Sheila’s tension existed, but not in our church. UUs have seven principles that give different perspectives of how we treat one another, act in community, make decisions in community, respect one another in spite of our racial, ethnic, cultural and other categories, and how we treat the world around us. They are rules much like the golden rule, which exists in almost every religion, rules that the vast majority of people would agree with. But the rules stop there. Sometimes we have to educate, or be educated about things, like White Supremacy and White Supremacy Culture, intersectionality, Non-binary and gender fluid that violate middle class or other cultural taboos. But generally we are all open to that education.
So this is the other part necessary to accomplishing acceptance of diversity, which breaks down that tension between freedom and community that keeps us apart. Harvey Milk said it best. “Every gay person must come out, As difficult as it is, you must tell your immediate family. You must tell your relatives. You must tell your friends if indeed they are your friends. You must tell your neighbors. You must tell the people you work with. You must tell the people in the stores you shop in. And once they realize that we are indeed everywhere, every myth, every lie, every innuendo will be destroyed once and for all. And once you do, you will feel so much better.”
And everyone must come out, not just LGBTIP folk, but people with chronic diseases or cancer, people with disabilities, people who are Republicans, or more likely out here in Hendricks County, people who are Democrats, even some of our church members are in the closet about the church. Because we are a “church” instead of a “Fellowship”, or “Society”, or whatever, when someone asks them about where they go to church, the can say “the UU Church behind the Mayberry Cafe, and no one has any idea that we aren’t just another Christian denomination, but a “church, and denomination, that accepts people’s beliefs from atheist to Zen Buddhist. The closet could be a closet of shame, but it is certainly a line of last defense stopping other people from learning something about us that is “socially unacceptable”. And often it is unacceptable in order for the powers that be to keep us separated in to groups that make it easier to control us. What are you in the closet about, and are you ready to come out?
Again, wonderful column (as was HCR’s) and excellent comments, esp Vernon’s.
My sister sent me a Tik Tok video of a 2012 Obama-Romney debate, contrasted with a mashed-up version of the trump-Biden disaster, a stark view of just how far the political landscape has devolved in such a short time. Both 2012 candidates were respectful of one another, speaking clearly and smartly on issues, rather than landing snide, distasteful remarks at their opponent. We all know what a disaster Biden’s perfor4mance was, with the usual incoherent drivel from trump. Thank goodness the Dems resolved their problem, while the maga/gop remains wallowing in theirs (made 9nfinitely worse by the addition of JDV.
As to the Gini Coefficient (had to look that up), I wonder how much traction FDR’s SS and Medicare legislation would would garner in today’s political morass?
Actually, slavery in the new world predated the all-out genocide of indigenous peoples. Once the Spaniards, English and French realized that the Caribbean tribes wouldn’t farm sugar cane, etc., they imported African miscreants. THEN, as Europeans discovered the wealth of the West, they had to eliminate the competition there.
Overlay AI on everything eroding trust and the Sisyphus task becomes much steeper – IGIO
I would add that privatization of public goods and services have further eroded trust in the general population. The electronic barriers put in place for “efficiency” are alienating and, IMO, intended to discourage questioning. The automated systems remove actually interactions with others, therefore reinforcing the tribalism and voluntary segregation by race and class. If all you know is an automated voice that does nothing to solve an issue that is not on the menu, you likely just give up in disgust, building suspicion and distrust of motive. With AI, it becomes even more divisive, enabling the user to manipulate and evade with impunity. The only human is the coder who is so far removed from the end result as to be unknowable and completely hidden from any accountability.
“within the general population”
A lack of trust is the most serious problem we face as a nation.
I kept reading…and reading, and reading, and reading…your citations were seemingly unending, but I couldn’t tear myself away. I looked forward to reading the comments, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Another excellent post, Sheila.
Again, Vernon said what I wanted to say. I will only add my test:
We will know that perceptive balance has been restored when National Airport reverts to its previous name (as did Cape Canaveral).
I meant to add {LBJ’s} Medicare