Trust and disagreement in the public sphere
What is required for a functioning democracy? Two key requirements are that:
- Citizens are able to reasonably disagree with one another without imputing bad motives to those with whom they disagree.
- Citizens can maintain trust in one another and in institutions.
Recent political events, including the debates surrounding Brexit, have illustrated the disastrous effects on the public sphere when these requirements are not met. These kinds of disagreement are often anything but reasonable, and the attribution of bad motives is commonplace. Moreover, and relatedly, trust in public institutions and in fellow citizens has suffered dramatically.
Understanding these crucial features of a democracy constitute key research themes and correspondingly key aspects of the impact of the research being done in the Department. Some central questions include:
- What are the prospects for informed, reasoned public discourse through the upheavals of radical technological, political and social change?
- When is it appropriate to trust one another and our public institutions?
- What is required for some institution to be trustworthy—to earn our trust?
- Where does intellectual autonomy shade into debilitating distrust?
The Department's research on trust, distrust, trustworthiness, and disagreement has influenced public debates in the UK and abroad through popular media, such as the BBC, NPR, and Psychology Today. This research has also influenced the professional practices of several organisations, including Audit Scotland, the Chartered Institute of Insurers (UK) and the Council of the EU.
