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Trust in Society
| Dozent/in |
Till Förster |
| Veranstaltungsart |
Seminar
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| Wann |
Mo 10-12 Uhr |
| Ort |
Ethnologisches Seminar |
| Sprechstunde |
Nach Vereinbarung |
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Inhalt |
This seminar first introduces into theories about social trust and how to apply them in the analysis of trust. It then looks at a variety of situations where trust is an important factor of social interaction. It starts at the level of partnership and kinship, then examines situations of everyday life as, for instance, trade, education, and the use we make of public space. Trust in institutions such as the police and the political order in general will then follow, and the seminar ends with trust in highly abstract norms and regulations such as money or the validity of scientific knowledge.
Trust has been described as the basis of social life. It is a necessity at all levels of social interaction, from the living together of a couple to the international relations that link states and entire regions of the world. Trust makes life not only easier, it makes life possible at all. We have to trust because we cannot know everything about fellow members of society. The more we know about a neighbor, a partner, a colleague, the less we need to trust – but we will never be able to know everything about him or her. What we cannot know is covered by trust. In a non-normative sense, trust is then best understood as the assumption that others will act as we expect them to act. We expect our partner not to deceive us, we expect business partners to pay their invoices, we expect the fiscal office not to privilege or exempt any person from tax paying, we expect states to respect the treaties that they signed. Trust may vanish quickly if we feel betrayed, and it takes a lot to re-establish trust once it has given way to a climate of distrust. There are degrees of trust with regard to the individual, the actual lifeworld and also the historical situation of the society in which one lives. |
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Programm |
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date |
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topic |
speaker |
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23.02.09 |
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Introduction:
Trust – a theoretical and methodological challenge. |
Till Förster |
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02.03.09 |
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Mardi Gras |
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09.03.09 |
1.
2.
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Classics in the Study of Trust
From Thomas Hobbes (1651) to Emile Durkheim (1893)
Georg Simmel and the trust in money (1900, 1908) |
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16.03.09 |
3.
4. |
Alfred Schütz and life-worldly trust (1932, 1970)
Peter M. Blau (1964), Erving Goffman (1967): Trust and Interaction |
A. Uehlinger
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23.03.09 |
5.
6.
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Trust in Contemporary Social Sciences
System Theory (Luhmann 1968 / 1979)
Rational Choice (Coleman 1980) |
S. Schär
A. Schwab |
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30.03.09 |
7. |
Modernity and Trust in Generalized Others (Giddens 1990) |
T. Adam |
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06.04.09 |
8.
9. |
Cultures of Trust (Sztompka 1995, 1999)
Trust as the Basis of Social Integration (Hartmann/Offe 2001) |
F. Zanner |
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13.04.09 |
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Easter Monday |
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20.04.09
now 27.4.09
8:15–9:45
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10.
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The Analysis of Trust
Trust in Partners and Neighbors (Bergmann 1987, Schulte 1989) |
M. Bokeng
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27.04.09 |
11. |
Trust in Urban Societies (Govier 1994) |
C. Kley-Gomez
R. Lichtsteiner |
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04.05.09 |
12. |
Trust in Traders and Clients (Barber 1983, Launay 1982) |
K. Riedweg
A. Grolimund |
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11.05.09 |
13. |
Trust in a Globalising Society (Boulding 1990) |
Y. Ziemann |
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18.05.09 |
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General discussion:
On the institutionalisation of trust |
All, Till Förster | | | |
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Literatur |
Trudy Govier, 1997: Social Trust and Human Communities. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press
Endress, Martin, 2002: Vertrauen. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag |
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Bemerkungen |
Modul Fachgeschichte der Ethnologie (MSF - Ethnologie)
Modul Theorie der Ethnologie (MSF - Ethnologie)
Modul Social Anthropology (MSG - African Studies)
Seminar papers can be written on all subjects except the first two theoretical sessions. They are due by June 15, 2009. |
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Shortcuts
Inhalt
Programm
Literatur
Bemerkungen
Download
Excerpts Hobbes (pdf)
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