Theres no single explanation for Americans loss of trust. The best-known analysis comes from Bowling Alone author Robert Putnams nearly two decades of studying the United States declining social capital, including trust. Putnam says Americans have abandoned their bowling leagues and Elks lodges to stay home and watch TV. Less socializing and fewer community meetings make people less trustful than the long civic generation that came of age during the Depression and World War II. University of Maryland Professor Eric Uslaner, who studies politics and trust, puts the blame elsewhere: economic inequality. Trust has declined as the gap between the nations rich and poor gapes ever wider, Uslaner says, and more and more Americans feel shut out. Theyve lost their sense of a shared fate. Tellingly, trust rises with wealth. People who believe the world is a good place and its going to get better and you can help make it better, they will be trusting, Uslaner said. If you believe its dark and driven by outside forces you cant control, you will be a mistruster.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Nov 2013 19:56:21 +0000