DOCSLIB.ORG

Trust, Distrust and the Relationships Between Parents and Schools in New

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Trust, Distrust and the Relationships Between Parents and Schools in New Black Parents, Vigilance and Public Schools: Trust, Distrust and the Relationships Between Parents and Schools in New York City Kathryn B. Hill Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2018 © 2017 Kathryn B. Hill All rights reserved ABSTRACT Black Parents, Vigilance and Public Schools: Trust, Distrust and the Relationships Between Parents and Schools in New York City Kathryn B. Hill My dissertation examines the distrust and trust that New York City African-American parents place in schools at a moment when market-based education policies and gentrification are transforming the landscape of public schools in many historically Black urban communities. In my study, I tease apart how the nature of parent trust in local public schools might be different from the nature of trust in the institution of public schooling or faith in public education, as Black parents may expect different things from the local school and the school system. I also explore how trust or distrust in parent-school relationships develops, by treating trusting as a dynamic process, shaped by past socialization and experiences, as well as current experiences with schools. I examine parents’ accounts of critical moments in their relationship with their child’s schools; such as finding and enrolling their children in a new school, impressions of teaching and classroom management and to what extent schools respected their parent involvement. I find that the parent-school relationship develops different for Black parents who send their children to traditional public schools and charter schools, but that in general, the parent perceptions of schools’ lack of care for Black children and lack of respect for Black parents are what drives distrust. By examining how trust in public schools might develop uniquely for Black Americans, my study develops treatments of trust in education research and theory by challenging the functionalist and power-neutral assumption that trust in schools is inherently constructive. By centering the perspectives of Black parents to better understand how legacies of institutional racism impede the development of trust in schools, I highlight how these normative assumptions about parent trust in schools often elide the role of socio-cultural exclusion, power asymmetries, discrimination, and a legacy of institutional racism and neglect—across many institutional contexts—that foreground orientations of parents of color toward educators and schools. Indeed, it is often prudent for Black parents to distrust schools and educators in order to protect their children because they have not been trustworthy. In addition, my study also illuminates whether changing urban school systems are deemed legitimate in the eyes of the public, and what kinds of parent-school relationships can foster greater trust. Table of Contents List of Tables and Figures .......................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... viii Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... x CHAPTER ONE Project Introduction ...................................................................................... 1 Purpose of Study ......................................................................................................................... 3 Dissertation Research Questions ............................................................................................ 4 Black Americans, Trust, and Schools ......................................................................................... 5 Black Americans and Schooling ................................................................................................. 7 Black Americans, New York City, and Schooling ................................................................... 10 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 15 CHAPTER TWO Conceptual Framework .............................................................................. 16 Why We Should Examine Trust in Schools ............................................................................. 16 Measuring Trust: A Call for Greater Specificity ...................................................................... 19 Trust in Schools as a Three-Part Relationship ..................................................................... 21 Treating Trusting as a Dynamic Process .................................................................................. 27 Socialization and Disposition to Trust .................................................................................. 28 Socialization and Trusting Processes and Behavior ............................................................ 31 Characteristics of Trusting Relationships Between Parents and Schools ............................ 35 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 39 CHAPTER THREE Research Design, Sample and Methods ................................................. 40 i Research Methods ..................................................................................................................... 41 Data Collection ......................................................................................................................... 42 Longitudinal Parent Interviews ............................................................................................ 42 Parent Recruitment ............................................................................................................... 44 School Site Field-Work ......................................................................................................... 45 Research Setting........................................................................................................................ 47 Characteristics of Parent Participants ....................................................................................... 51 School Site Sampling ................................................................................................................ 55 PS 970/Central Harlem Elementary School: DOE Neighborhood Public School ............... 55 PS 1150/North-Central Brooklyn Elementary School: New Gentrifying DOE School ........ 57 Transcend Academy/Eastern Brooklyn: Large Franchise “No Excuses” Network Charter School .................................................................................................................................... 58 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 62 Ethics......................................................................................................................................... 63 Positionality .............................................................................................................................. 64 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 65 Overview of Findings .................................................................................................................. 66 CHAPTER FOUR Finding a School in an Untrustworthy School System: The Beginning of the Parent-School Relationship and Dealing with Distrust..................................................... 67 Finding a New School as a Moment of Trust ........................................................................... 71 Why is Finding a Good School So Hard? ................................................................................. 73 It All Depends on Neighborhood .......................................................................................... 74 Drawing Straws for Educational Opportunity ...................................................................... 76 ii Being Chosen by a “No Excuses” Charter School.................................................................... 77 A Step Above the Regular Schools ........................................................................................ 78 Anticipating Something Good, Feeling at Ease .................................................................... 81 Trying to Find a Traditional Neighborhood Public School ...................................................... 84 Knowing Who Is Molding My Child ..................................................................................... 85 Knowing the School Community ........................................................................................... 90 Belonging in the School Community ..................................................................................... 94 Expanding Educational Opportunity for Some ....................................................................... 100 The Haves and the Have Nots ............................................................................................. 100 They Are All Our Children .................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Introduction to Psychological Disorders Defining Disorder Psychological Disorder
    Introduction to Psychological Disorders Defining Disorder Psychological Disorder • A “harmful dysfunction” in which behaviors are maladaptive, unjustifiable, disturbing, and atypical Maladaptive • An exaggeration of normal, acceptable behaviors • Destructive to oneself or others Unjustifiable • A behavior which does not have a rational basis Disturbing • A behavior which is troublesome to other people Atypical • A behavior so different from other people’s behavior that it violates a norm • Norms vary from culture to culture MUDA • A mnemonic device used to remember the four attributes of a psychological disorder –Maladaptive –Unjustifiable –Disturbing –Atypical Understanding Disorders Early Views of Mental Illness • In ancient times, mental illness was usually explained through a supernatural model; the person was possessed or a sinner • During the Middle Ages treatment methods were inhumane and cruel Philippe Pinel (1745-1826) • French physician who worked to reform the treatment of people with mental disorders • Encouraged more humane treatment Understanding Disorders: The Medical Model The Medical Model • Concept that mental illnesses have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and in most cases, cured. • Psychological disorders can be diagnosed based on their symptoms and treated or cured through therapy. • Psychological disorders are similar to a physical illness. Understanding Disorders: The Bio-Psycho-Social Model Bio-Psycho-Social Model • Contemporary perspective that assumes biological, psychological, and sociocultural
    [Show full text]
  • The Pandemic Exposes Human Nature: 10 Evolutionary Insights PERSPECTIVE Benjamin M
    PERSPECTIVE The pandemic exposes human nature: 10 evolutionary insights PERSPECTIVE Benjamin M. Seitza,1, Athena Aktipisb, David M. Bussc, Joe Alcockd, Paul Bloome, Michele Gelfandf, Sam Harrisg, Debra Liebermanh, Barbara N. Horowitzi,j, Steven Pinkerk, David Sloan Wilsonl, and Martie G. Haseltona,1 Edited by Michael S. Gazzaniga, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, and approved September 16, 2020 (received for review June 9, 2020) Humans and viruses have been coevolving for millennia. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19) has been particularly successful in evading our evolved defenses. The outcome has been tragic—across the globe, millions have been sickened and hundreds of thousands have died. Moreover, the quarantine has radically changed the structure of our lives, with devastating social and economic consequences that are likely to unfold for years. An evolutionary per- spective can help us understand the progression and consequences of the pandemic. Here, a diverse group of scientists, with expertise from evolutionary medicine to cultural evolution, provide insights about the pandemic and its aftermath. At the most granular level, we consider how viruses might affect social behavior, and how quarantine, ironically, could make us susceptible to other maladies, due to a lack of microbial exposure. At the psychological level, we describe the ways in which the pandemic can affect mating behavior, cooperation (or the lack thereof), and gender norms, and how we can use disgust to better activate native “behavioral immunity” to combat disease spread. At the cultural level, we describe shifting cultural norms and how we might harness them to better combat disease and the negative social consequences of the pandemic.
    [Show full text]
  • Distrust, Fear and Emotional Learning: an Online Auction Perspective Glenn Robert Bewsell
    Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research This paper is available online at ISSN 0718–1876 Electronic Version www.jtaer.com VOL 7 / ISSUE 2 / AUGUST 2012 / 1-12 DOI: 10.4067/S0718-18762012000200002 © 2012 Universidad de Talca - Chile Distrust, Fear and Emotional Learning: An Online Auction Perspective Glenn Robert Bewsell University of Wollongong, School of Information Systems and Technology, Wollongong, Australia, [email protected] Received 19 December 2011; received in revised form 12 April 2012; accepted 27 April 2012 Abstract This exploratory research explores the emotional perspective of online distrust, where distrust is a fear. Fear is one of the negative emotions where the situational state is motive-inconsistent and uncertainty is present. A review of literature explores distrust as a fear, emotions, emotional learning and identifies cognitive dimensions consistent with fear. These cognitive dimensions are motive-inconsistent situational state, uncertainty, goal-path obstacle, effort, and agency/control. Textual data is collected from an online auction community website to support this research. The dimensions consistent with fear are identified within the data collected and analyzed using qualitative analysis. Goal-path obstacles are identified within the data as; value incongruence, user isolation, user inefficacy, and financial. The goal-path obstacles identified are consistent with types of fear. The research findings are discussed in terms of the theory and offers suggestions to practitioners to improve
    [Show full text]
  • African-American Parents' Experiences in a Predominantly White School
    Syracuse University SURFACE Dissertations - ALL SURFACE June 2017 Opportunity, but at what cost? African-American parents' experiences in a predominantly white school Peter Smith Smith Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/etd Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Smith, Peter Smith, "Opportunity, but at what cost? African-American parents' experiences in a predominantly white school" (2017). Dissertations - ALL. 667. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/667 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the SURFACE at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract National measures of student achievement, such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), provide evidence of the gap in success between African- American and white students. Despite national calls for increased school accountability and focus on achievement gaps, many African-American children continue to struggle in school academically, as compared to their white peers. Ladson-Billings (2006) argues that a deeper understanding of the legacy of disparity in funding for schools serving primarily African- American students, shutting out African-American parents from civic participation, and unfair treatment of African-Americans despite their contributions to the United States is necessary to complicate the discourse about African-American student performance. The deficit model that uses student snapshots of achievement such as the NAEP and other national assessments to explain the achievement gap suggests that there is something wrong with African-American children. As Cowen Pitre (2104) explains, however, “the deficit model theory blames the victim without acknowledging the unequal educational and social structures that deny African- American students access to a quality education (2014, pg.
    [Show full text]
  • Integrating Animal-Assisted Interventions with Counseling Theory
    Article 14 Fido and Freud Meet: Integrating Animal-Assisted Interventions With Counseling Theory Paper based on a program presented at the 2011 American Counseling Association Conference, March 27, New Orleans, LA. Laura Bruneau and Amy Johnson Bruneau, Laura, is an associate professor of Counselor Education at Adams State University. Her primary research area is creativity in counseling, which includes therapeutic reading and animal-assisted interventions. She and her dog are a Pet Partners Team and a Reading Education Assistance Dog Team. Johnson, Amy, is the executive director of Teacher’s Pet, an organization that pairs troubled youth with hard-to-adopt shelter dogs. She is also the director of the Center for Human-Animal Interventions at Oakland University. Abstract Current research on animal-assisted interventions (AAI) is expansive and rapidly growing, affirming a host of physical, physiological, and psychological benefits when integrated into the counseling process. This modality harnesses the power of the human-animal bond, providing benefit to the client and the counselor- client relationship. Given the mental health needs of the juvenile justice population, the use of innovative, creative modalities is needed. By integrating counseling theory and AAI, this manuscript grounds the practice of AAI while highlighting examples with adjudicated youth. Keywords: animal-assisted interventions, human-animal bond, counseling theory, adjudicated youth Animal-assisted intervention (AAI) is an umbrella term for modalities such as animal-assisted therapy and animal-assisted activities. AAI is goal-oriented, designed to improve client functioning, and delivered by a practitioner with specialized expertise and training (Animal Assisted Interventions International, 2013). The scholarly literature on AAI is expansive and rapidly growing, supporting positive results with using AAI for persons with emotional or behavior difficulties (Nimer & Lundahl, 2007) and children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders (Prothman, Bienert, & Ettrich, 2006).
    [Show full text]
  • THE CONNERS of WACO: BLACK PROFESSIONALS in TWENTIETH CENTURY TEXAS by VIRGINIA LEE SPURLIN, B.A., M.A
    THE CONNERS OF WACO: BLACK PROFESSIONALS IN TWENTIETH CENTURY TEXAS by VIRGINIA LEE SPURLIN, B.A., M.A. A DISSERTATION IN HISTORY Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved ~r·rp~(n oj the Committee li =:::::.., } ,}\ )\ •\ rJ <. I ) Accepted May, 1991 lAd ioi r2 1^^/ hJo 3? Cs-^.S- Copyright Virginia Lee Spurlin, 1991 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation is a dream turned into a reality because of the goodness and generosity of the people who aided me in its completion. I am especially grateful to the sister of Jeffie Conner, Vera Malone, and her daughter, Vivienne Mayes, for donating the Conner papers to Baylor University. Kent Keeth, Ellen Brown, William Ming, and Virginia Ming helped me immensely at the Texas Collection at Baylor. I appreciated the assistance given me by Jene Wright at the Waco Public Library. Rowena Keatts, the librarian at Paul Quinn College, deserves my plaudits for having the foresight to preserve copies of the Waco Messenger, a valuable took for historical research about blacks in Waco and McLennan County. The staff members of the Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Texas State Library in Austin along with those at the Prairie View A and M University Library gave me aid, information, and guidance for which I thank them. Kathy Haigood and Fran Thompson expended time in locating records of the McLennan County School District for me. I certainly appreciated their efforts. Much appreciation also goes to Robert H. demons, the county school superintendent.
    [Show full text]
  • Two Stories of Distrust in America
    May 2021 Two Stories of In America Two Stories of in America About More in Common The report was conducted by More in Common, a new international initiative to build societies and communities that are stronger, more united, and more resilient to the increasing threats of polarization and social division. We work in partnership with a wide range of civil society groups, as well as philanthropy, business, faith, education, media and government to connect people across lines of division. Principal Authors Dan Vallone — U.S. Director Stephen Hawkins — Director of Research Noelle Malvar, PhD — Senior Researcher Paul Oshinski — Research Fellow Taran Raghuram — Research Fellow Daniel Yudkin, PhD — Associate Research Director More in Common www.moreincommon.com 115 Broadway, New York, NY 10006 Acknowledgements More in Common appreciates the valuable input and advice relating to this study received from a wide range of experts and friends. We would like to thank the Charles Koch Institute, the Knight Foundation, and Democracy Fund for their philanthropic support for this project. For their assistance with many elements of this work we would like to thank our colleague Coco Xu and Amanda Fuchs Miller, Ranit Schmelzer, and Marla Viorst. The execution and analysis of this project was conducted in close partnership with YouGov. For their efforts across our polling projects, we thank the following members of the YouGov research team in particular: Samantha Luks, Rebecca Phillips, and Marissa Shih. The report, data visualizations, and other aesthetic considerations were designed and created by Michelle Ng and Alane Marco. Copyright © 2021 More in Common Version 1.0.3 All Rights Reserved To request permission to photocopy or reprint materials, email: [email protected] Contents Foreword –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 5 Executive Summary ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 7 Methodology –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 10 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Medical Education and Distrust Modulate the Response of Insular-Cingulate 2 Network and Ventral Striatum in Pain Diagnosis
    1 Medical education and distrust modulate the response of insular-cingulate 2 network and ventral striatum in pain diagnosis. 3 Giada Dirupoa,b,c, Sabrina Totaroa, Jeanne Richardc,d and Corrado Corradi-Dell’Acquaa,b 4 5 a Theory of Pain Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and 6 Educational Sciences (FPSE), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. 7 b Geneva Neuroscience Center, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. 8 c Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. 9 d Department of Psychology, Swiss Distance University Institute, Brig, Switzerland. 10 11 Corresponding author: Giada Dirupo, University of Geneva – Campus Biotech, Ch. des Mines 12 9, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland. Tel: +41223790966. E-mail: [email protected] 13 14 Keywords: Medical Students, Negative Feedback, Social Conformity, Medial Prefrontal 15 Cortex, Insula. 16 1 Abstract 2 Healthcare providers often underestimate patients’ pain, sometimes even when aware of 3 their reports. This could be the effect of experience reducing sensitivity to others pain, or 4 distrust towards patients’ self-evaluations. Across multiple experiments (375 participants), we 5 tested whether senior medical students differed from younger colleagues and lay controls in 6 the way they assess people’s pain and take into consideration their feedback. We found that 7 medical training affected the sensitivity to pain faces, an effect shown by the lower ratings 8 and highlighted by a decrease in neural response of the insula and cingulate cortex. Instead, 9 distrust towards the expressions’ authenticity affected the processing of feedbacks, by 10 decreasing activity in the ventral striatum whenever patients’ self-reports matched 11 participants’ evaluations, and by promoting strong reliance on the opinion of other doctors.
    [Show full text]
  • Envy and Jealousy As Discrete Emotions: a Taxometric Analysis
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Faculty Publications, Department of Psychology Psychology, Department of March 1996 Envy and Jealousy as Discrete Emotions: A Taxometric Analysis Nick Haslam [email protected] Brian H. Bornstein University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/psychfacpub Part of the Psychiatry and Psychology Commons Haslam, Nick and Bornstein, Brian H., "Envy and Jealousy as Discrete Emotions: A Taxometric Analysis" (1996). Faculty Publications, Department of Psychology. 189. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/psychfacpub/189 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Psychology, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications, Department of Psychology by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Published in Motivation and Emotion, 20:3 (1996), pp. 255–272. Copyright © 1996 Plenum Publishing Corporation/Springer Netherlands. http://www.springerlink.com/content/1573-6644/ Used by permission. Envy and Jealousy as Discrete Emotions: A Taxometric Analysis 1 Nick Haslam 2 New School for Social Research Brian H. Bornstein Louisiana State University Envy and jealousy may differ in kind or only by degree. In a study of emotion episodes re- called by 291 subjects, two forms of taxometric analysis were used to test between cat- egorical and dimensional models of the two emotions. The two emotions yielded strong convergent evidence of discreteness, and commonly cooccurred. However, although sub- jects rated their episode to contain similar levels of “envy” and “jealousy,” both terms were equally correlated with the presence of envy features and neither term was corre- lated substantially with the presence of jealousy features.
    [Show full text]
  • Private Schools for Blacks in Early Twentieth Century Richmond, Virginia
    W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2016 Private Schools for Blacks in Early Twentieth Century Richmond, Virginia Sharron Smith College of William and Mary, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Smith, Sharron, "Private Schools for Blacks in Early Twentieth Century Richmond, Virginia" (2016). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1477068460. http://doi.org/10.21220/S2D30T This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Private Schools for Blacks in Early Twentieth Century Richmond, Virginia Sharron Renee Smith Richmond, Virginia Master of Liberal Arts, University of Richmond, 2004 Bachelor of Arts, Mary Baldwin College, 1989 A Thesis presented to the Graduate Faculty of the College of William and Mary in Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Arts Department of History The College of William and Mary August, 2016 © Copyright by Sharron R. Smith ABSTRACT The Virginia State Constitution of 1869 mandated that public school education be open to both black and white students on a segregated basis. In the city of Richmond, Virginia the public school system indeed offered separate school houses for blacks and whites, but public schools for blacks were conducted in small, overcrowded, poorly equipped and unclean facilities. At the beginning of the twentieth century, public schools for black students in the city of Richmond did not change and would not for many decades.
    [Show full text]
  • National Implications: Historical View of Black School Board Members of the State of Texas Until 1985
    NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL VOLUME 23, NUMBER 4, 2006 National Implications: Historical View of Black School Board Members of the State of Texas Until 1985 Dr. James E. Ginn Dr. J D Gregory, Jr. Texas Southern University Prairie View A&M University Dr. Henry North Dr. Leola Robinson Scott Texas Southern University Southern University ABSTRACT This study is an examination of the historical, social, economic, and political profile of the state of Texas and their opinions concerning the educational issues of school integration, segregation or desegregation, staff assignment and the overall participation of Black School Board members on their perspective school boards. It indicates an enhanced growth of board members and their concerns of all students comprising the school district. Introduction lacks experienced the horrors of slavery, the war between the states of the United States to preserve the Union and the abolishment of slavery, the Reconstruction BEra, the dismantling of Reconstruction and the introduction of “Jim Crowism”, the dismantling of the “Separate but Equal” doctrine, and the emergence of Blacks into she political arena. The Black electorate, however, experienced appreciable political activity prior to the Reconstruction Era. 1 The advent of the Reconstruction Era facilitated the awareness of the Black freedmen and provided a support system which ensured the inclusion of Blacks in the political process of Texas and other southern states. 2,3 During this period, many Blacks were elected to numerous political positions and held significant positions in the Republican Party. 4 Democrats, on the other hand, made numerous 1 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL 2___________________________________________________________________________________ attempts to destroy the Republican Party and the accompanying political influence of Black Texans during Reconstruction and the subsequent years.
    [Show full text]
  • Trust, Distrust and the Paradox of Democracy
    P 97 - 003 TRUST, DISTRUST AND THE PARADOX OF DEMOCRACY PIOTR SZTOMPKA Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung gGmbH (WZB) Reichpietschufer 50, D-10785 Berlin TRUST, DISTRUST AND THE PARADOX OF DEMOCRACY PAGE 2 PIOTR SZTOMPKA Abstract According to the three-dimensional theory of trust which the author develops in his recent work, the measure of trust that people vest on their fellow citizens or institutions depends on three factors: the "reflected trustworthiness" as estimated by themselves in more or less rational manner, the attitude of "basic trustfulness" deriving from socialization, and the "culture of trust" pervading their society and normatively constraining for each member. The culture of trust is shaped by historical experiences of a society - the tradition of trust, and by the current structural context -the trust-inspiring milieu. The author presents a model of a structural context conducive for the emergence of the culture of trust, and then argues that the democratic organization contributes to the trust-generating conditions, like normative certainty, transparency, stability, accountability etc. The mechanism of this influence is found to be doubly paradoxical. First, democracy breeds the culture of trust by institutionalizing distrust, at many levels of democratic organization. And second, the strongest influence of democracy on the culture of trust may be expected when the institutionalized distrust remains only the potential insurance of trustworthiness, a resource used sparingly and only when there appear significant breaches of trust. Of all three components in the three-dimensional model of trust, the cultural dimension is most susceptible to practical, political measures. And the most promising method to elicit the culture of trust is designing democratic institutions and safeguarding their viable functioning.
    [Show full text]