High trust and low trust societies

A low trust society is defined as one in which interpersonal trust is relatively low, and which do not have shared ethical values.^[1] Conversely, a high trust society is one where interpersonal trust is relatively high, and where shared ethical values are strongly shared.

Institutions and mechanisms

According to researchers, low trust societies are typically kinship based;^[1] outcomes of low trust societies can include difficulty in forming and maintaining corporate structures.^[2] Mechanisms and institutions that are corrupted, dysfunctional, or absent in low-trust societies include respect for private property rights, a trusted civil court system, democratic voting and acceptance of electoral outcomes, and voluntary tax payment.^[3] Research has identified a correlation between linear-active cultures (i.e. following a daily schedule with a single task at a time)^[4] with high-trust societies, and multi-active cultures (flexible schedules with many tasks at once, often in an unplanned order) with low-trust cultures.^[5]

Self governance

High-trust societies display a high degree of mutual trust not imposed by outside "contractual, legal or hierarchical regulation", but instead are based upon "prior moral consensus".^[1] Much writing on the subject refers to Francis Fukuyama's 1995 book, Trust: Social Virtues and Creation of Prosperity, in which he describes "the ability of various peoples to organize effectively for commercial purposes without relying on blood ties or government intervention".^[6]

References

Sources

• Govier, T. (1997). Social Trust and Human Communities. Social Trust and Human Communities. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-1680-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=qgoK0cL_NDcC&pg=PA132. 
• Natale, S.M.; Hoffman, R.P.; Hayward, G. (1998). Business Education and Training: Corporate Structures, Business, and the Management of Values. Business education and training : a value-laden process. University Press of America. ISBN 978-0-7618-1003-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=Qd6Lht4f3kUC&pg=PA35. 
• Rose, D.C. (2011). The Moral Foundation of Economic Behavior. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-978177-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=YJxpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA196. 
• Hopkins, B. (2012). Cultural Differences and Improving Performance: How Values and Beliefs Influence Organizational Performance. Ashgate Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4094-5862-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=yLhFyzNMKf0C&pg=PA120. 

Further reading

• Trust me, a 2016 Freakonomics Radio episode about trust in societies
• The Origins of the Greek debt crisis on YouTube – Example of low trust society.

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