Morten Frederiksen

Dimensions of trust: An empirical revisit to Simmel’s formal sociology of intersubjective trust

Georg Simmel is the seminal author on trust within sociology, but though inspired by Simmel, subsequent studies of intersubjective trust have failed to address Simmel’s suggestion that trust is as differentiated as the social relations of which it is part. Rather, trust has been studied within limited sets of exchange or work relations. This article revisits Simmel’s concept of trust as social form in order to investigate this differentiation. From an interview study, the differentiation and limits of trust are analysed within different types of social relations. Trust is found to vary greatly in scope and mode influenced by the intersecting dimensions of relations, objects and situations. Furthermore, trust exists between an outer threshold of expected deceit and an inner threshold of confident reliance. The findings from the qualitative study contribute new knowledge on the diversity of trust, opening new avenues of sociological investigation of trust outside exchange and work relations.

Calculativeness and trust: A view from phenomenology

Oliver Williamsons characterisation of calculativeness as inimical to trust (Williamson, O. E. [1993]. Calculativeness, trust, and economic organization. The Journal of Law and Economics, 36, 453–486) contradicts most sociological trust research. However, a similar argument is found within trust phenomenology. This paper reinvestigates Williamsons argument from the perspective of Løgstrups phenomenological theory of trust. Contrary to Williamson, however, Løgstrups contention is that trust, not calculativeness, is the default attitude and only when suspicion is awoken does trust falter. This paper argues that while Williamsons distinction between calculativeness and trust is supported by phenomenology, the analysis needs to take actual subjective experience into consideration. It points out that, first, Løgstrup places trust alongside calculativeness as a different mode of engaging in social interaction, rather conceiving of trust as a state or the outcome of a decision-making process. Second, the analysis must take into consideration that people often engage in interaction on the basis of familiarity rather than calculation. Finally, the institutionally multilayered character of social interaction means that trust and calculativeness cannot a priori be separated into non-market and market relations. Rather, it is reasonable to expect that both trust and calculativeness may exist within both market and non-market relations.

Relational trust: Outline of a Bourdieusian theory of interpersonal trust

While the cognitive, behavioural and emotional aspects of trust are widely investigated within trust research, the relational character of trust remains underdeveloped. Nonetheless, many social scientific theories of trust underscore that trust is fundamentally a relational phenomenon. This article presents a theoretical investigation of the relational characteristics of interpersonal trust within Pierre Bourdieus relational social theory. The analysis pursues the constitution of interpersonal trust within the dual temporal dynamics of the social. ‘Habitus’, linked to diachronous time, describes the development of familiarity and the experience with justifications for trust. ‘The practical sense’, linked to synchronous time, describes the situated constitution of perception and understanding from which trust emerges as the aligning of interaction and meaning. Together, these constitute the process of trusting as an anticipation of forthcoming events which is linked both to experience and to potentials inscribed in the situation. By introducing the Bourdieusian framework in the analysis of interpersonal trust, important conceptual linkages emerge between aspects of trust otherwise treated separately in trust research.

Trust in the face of uncertainty: a qualitative study of intersubjective trust and risk

Contemporary trust research regards trust as a way of dealing with uncertainty and risk. Predominantly, it suggests that trust reduces uncertainty by means of risk assessment and rational calculation. However, phenomenological research proposes that trust is an alternative way of relating to uncertainty rather than a way to reduced uncertainty. This paper investigates these propositions in an interview study on intersubjective trust. The study focuses on the modes of uncertainty management employed in trust and risk, and particularly on how knowledge, experience, familiarity, and decision-making are combined in the act of trusting. The main finding is that trust and risk are better characterised as different ways of perceiving the social and managing uncertainty, than as different elements of the same decision process. The concept of ‘risk compartmentalisation’ is developed to describe the different ways people work to contain risk and maintain trust by combining adaptation and familiarity.

Distrust and Mistrust: Lessons from a Low Trust Minority

The latest Danish wave of the European Values Study shows an increase in the prevailing culture of social trust. Low social trust characterises only a minority of the population. This study investigates who maintains low social trust in a Danish environment of high social trust, in comparison with the low trust majority of Austria. The study pursues the interplay between social positions and dispositions through Multiple Correspondence Analysis. Social trust is found to be stratified along an in- and exclusion axis as well as a high and low capital axis of labour market insiders. The analysis suggests a dimension of social trust concerning tolerance of the unknown along the axis of in- and exclusion. Furthermore, it suggests a dimension of social trust concerning clarity or ambiguity in the expectation of cooperation and self-utility of others. The article concludes that a differentiation of social trust in the first dimension as trust/mistrust and trust/distrust in the second dimension is helpful to further social trust research.

Varieties of Scandinavian universalism: A comparative study of welfare justifications

Attitudes research shows that the Scandinavian, universal welfare regime receives strong popular support. Why the inhabitants consider this universal model of welfare appropriate is, however, all but unknown. This paper explores the level of welfare attitudes and welfare legitimacy to investigate the cultural standards of worth which justify the universal welfare state to people in Sweden and Denmark. A total of 115 qualitative interviews conducted in Denmark and Sweden in 2013–2014 are analysed to determine and compare the principles of valuation Danes and Swedes employ in evaluating their universal welfare states. Findings include a general cross-country consensus on generalised reciprocity; however, Swedes emphasise security and emancipation, while, in contrast, Danes emphasise societal efficiency and risk pooling.

Trusting the other or taking a chance? An investigation of chance and trust temporalities

Theories of modernity and risk society argue that increasing levels of risk fundamentally alter or lower the level of trust in society. In this article we argue that this assumption is based in a fallacious theoretical link between trust and risk. Rather than calculative assessment of risk and specific events, trust directs anticipation towards process. First, we outline dominant approaches to trust as a question of actions and uncertainty of outcomes, arguing that these approaches treat trust and chance as interchangeable, conflating the different socio-temporalities within which risk and trust, respectively, reside. Secondly, the issue of temporality is traced in Luhmann’s work on trust and it is demonstrated how his dichotomous treatment of social time conflates markedly different temporal experiences. As a solution to this, the article presents the notion of a third temporal mode of the process present from Deleuzes concept of becoming. This is theoretically reconnected to the process present to trust theory, arguing that the uncertainty trust deals with, is connected to process experience rather than expectations of the future. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and empirical consequences of a socio-temporal distinction between trust and chance, and argue that trusting is an epistemological slip and space of non-reflexivity, that transform time to process.

Mainstreaming Effects on Volunteering?: The Case of Denmark

Abstract The aim of this article is to investigate whether and to what extent changes in the structural preconditions for volunteering have had an effect on the relative importance of ‘classic predictors’ of volunteering within two areas: (1) socio-economic and status variables that function as resources for civic engagement and (2) value orientations that guide volunteering. Arguably, upward changes in the level of human capital, such as education, or changes in values that put more emphasis on, for example, social responsibility, could be expected to lead to an increase in the relative importance of these variables because the groups who possess such resources or express such attitudes would be more likely to enter into the volunteer labour force. If this is the case, then we would expect to see increasing differences in the likelihood of volunteering between high- and low-status groups. On the other hand, it could be argued that it is the distribution and diffusion of such resources and values that matter. If, for instance, education has become more widespread and covers larger proportions of the population, it is also possible that the relative importance of education has diminished. In this case, we would see a mainstreaming effect on volunteering because this activity becomes more normal, independent of class and status. Finally, it is also possible that volunteering is relatively resistant to wider structural changes in society or at least experience a time lag in the effect of such changes. Based on an empirical analysis of Danish survey data from 1990 to 2008, we argue that the idea of a mainstreaming effect should be taken seriously.

Education and Trust: Exploring the Association across Social Relationships and Nations

Contemporary research on trust has come to assume that education has a universal positive effect on trust. Using the survey item that has dominated the trust literature –‘whether one believes most people can be trusted or one can never be too careful’ – education is often found to be one of the strongest predictors of trust, more important than age, income, wealth, health or any another individual characteristic. Thus there are indeed reasons to believe that education sometimes increases the propensity to trust other people. However, this article argues that there are limits to the positive effect derived from education. Using the fifth wave of the World Values Survey, it is demonstrated that there is no positive effect from education on trust within the family, among friends or among persons living in one’s neighbourhood. In the latter case, a negative effect is found. It is also demonstrated that the positive effect on ‘generalized trust’ is largely a phenomenon found in low-corruption countries. The article demonstrates that in high-corruption countries, education decreases trust in other people – both generalized trust and trust in more proximate relationships.

The Ambiguities of Volunteering

This chapter contributes to the on-going discussion about societal changes from a civil society perspective. By exploring and discussing attitudes among the populations in the Scandinavian countries towards the societal role of volunteering and its relationship to government, public services and the business sector, the chapter offers an inventory of opinions concerning the division of responsibility for welfare in society and the moral justifications and concerns underpinning these opinions. The analysis unfolds a significant pattern: First, it is important that welfare services have sufficient quality and are efficiently produced. Second, it is important that welfare is fairly distributed, as everyone is equally entitled to welfare. Third, it is important that welfare is human and genuine. However, since volunteering is perceived as an opportunity for the provision of welfare in society, it creates moral dilemmas as it challenges the traditional welfare state. This has bearing on the future legitimacy of the Scandinavian universal welfare state tradition, demanding a balance between the engagement of volunteers and the welfare state as a guarantor of quality and equality.