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social traps and the problem of trust
A‘socialtrap’isasituationwhereindividuals,groupsororganisationsareunableto
cooperateowingtomutualdistrustandlackofsocialcapital,evenwherecooperation
wouldbenefitall.Examplesincludecivilstrife,pervasivecorruption,ethnicdiscrimina-
tion,depletionofnaturalresourcesandmisuseofsocialinsurancesystems.Peoplewill
cooperateonlyiftheycantrustthatotherswillalsocooperate.Muchhasbeenwritten
attemptingtoexplaintheproblem,butratherlessmaterialisavailableonhowtoescape
it.Inthisbook,BoRothsteinexploreshowsocialcapitalandsocialtrustaregenerated,
andwhatgovernmentscandoaboutit.Hearguesthatitistheexistenceofuniversal
andimpartialpoliticalinstitutions,togetherwithpublicpolicieswhichenhancesocial
andeconomicequality,thatcreatessocialcapital.Byintroducingthetheoryofcollective
memoryintothediscussion,Rothsteinmakesanempiricalandtheoreticalclaimforhow
universalinstitutionscanbeestablished.
bo rothsteinistheAugustRo¨hssChairinPoliticalScienceatGo¨teborgUniversityin
Sweden.AmonghispublicationsinEnglishareTheSocialDemocraticState:TheSwedish
ModelandTheBureaucraticProblemsofSocialReforms(Pittsburgh,1996);JustInstitutions
Matter:TheMoralandPoliticalLogicoftheUniversalWelfareState(Cambridge,1998);
Restructuring the Welfare State (co-edited with Sven Steinmo, New York, 2002); and
CreatingSocialTrustinPost-SocialistSocieties(co-editedwithJanosKornaiandSusan
Rose-Ackerman,NewYork,2004).
theoriesofinstitutionaldesign
SeriesEditor
RobertE.Goodin
ResearchSchoolofSocialSciences
AustralianNationalUniversity
AdvisoryEditors
BrianBarry,RussellHardin,CarolePateman,BarryWeingast
StephenElkin,ClausOffe,SusanRose-Ackerman
Socialscientistshaverediscoveredinstitutions.Theyhavebeenincreasinglyconcerned
with the myriad ways in which social and political institutions shape the patterns of
individualinteractionswhichproducesocialphenomena.Theyareequallyconcerned
withthewaysinwhichthoseinstitutionsemergefromsuchinteractions.
Thisseriesisdevotedtotheexplorationofthemorenormativeaspectsoftheseissues.
Whatmakesonesetofinstitutionsbetterthananother?How,ifatall,mightwemove
fromthelessdesirablesetofinstitutionstoamoredesirableset?Alongsidethequestions
ofwhatinstitutionswewoulddesign,ifweweredesigningthemafresh,arepragmatic
questionsofhowwecanbestgetfromheretothere:fromourpresentinstitutionsto
newrevitalizedones.
Theoriesofinstitutionaldesignisinsistentlymultidisciplinaryandinterdisciplinary,
bothintheinstitutionsonwhichitfocuses,andinthemethodologiesusedtostudy
them.Thereareinterestingsociologicalquestionstobeaskedaboutlegalinstitutions,
interestinglegalquestionstobeaskedabouteconomicinstitutions,andinterestingsocial,
economic,andlegalquestionstobeaskedaboutpoliticalinstitutions.Byjuxtaposing
theseapproachesinprint,thisseriesaimstoenrichnormativediscoursesurrounding
importantissuesofdesigningandredesigning,shapingandreshapingthesocial,political,
andeconomicinstitutionsofcontemporarysociety.
Otherbooksinthisseries
RobertE.Goodin(editor),TheTheoryofInstitutionalDesign
BrentFisseandJohnBraithwaite,Corporations,Crime,andAccountability
ItaiSened,ThePoliticalInstitutionofPrivateProperty
BoRothstein,JustInstitutionsMatter
Jon Elster, Claus Offe, and Ulrich Preuss, Institutional Design in Post-Communist
Societies:RebuildingtheShipatSea
MarkBovens,TheQuestforResponsibility
GeoffreyBrennanandAlanHamlin,DemocraticDevicesandDesires
AdrienneHeritier,Policy-MakingandDiversityinEurope:EscapefromDeadlock
EricPatashnik,PuttingTrustintheUSBudget:FederalTrustFundsandthePoliticsof
Commitment
Benjamin Reilly, Democracy in Divided Societies: Electoral Engineering for Conflict
Management
HuibPellikaanandRobertvanderVeen,EnvironmentalDilemmasandPolicyDesign
JohnS.DryzekandLesueHolmes,Post-CommunistDemocratization:PoliticalDis-
coursesacrossThirteenCountries
JonathanG.S.Koppell,ThePoliticsofQuasi-Government:HybridOrganizationsand
theDynamicsofBureaucraticControl
Ju¨rgSteiner,Andre´Ba¨chtiger,MarkusSpo¨rndli,andMarcusR.Steenbergen,Delib-
erativePoliticsinAction:AnalyzingParliamentaryDiscourse
SOCIAL TRAPS AND THE PROBLEM OF
TRUST
BOROTHSTEIN
cambridge university press
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,SãoPaulo
Cambridge University Press
TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridgecb22ru,UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Informationo nthi stitle :www.cambri dge.org/9780521848299
©BoRothstein2005
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexceptionandtotheprovisionof
relevantcollectivelicensingagreements,noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplace
withoutthewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublishedinprintformat 2005
isbn-13 978-0-511-12937-7 eBook(EBL)
isbn-10 0-511-12937-8
eBook(EBL)
isbn-13 978-0-521-84829-9 hardback
isbn-10 0-521-84829-6 hardback
isbn-13 978-0-521-61282-1 paperback
isbn-10 0-521-61282-9 paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurls
forexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,anddoesnot
guaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
ToAnnChristin
Contents
Listoftablesandfigures page viii
Acknowledgements ix
1Reflections after a long day in Moscow 1
2 Ontherationalchoiceofculture 28
3 Onthetheoryandpracticeofsocialcapital 43
4 Socialcapitalinthesocialdemocraticwelfarestate 71
5 Howissocialcapitalproduced? 92
6 Theproblemofinstitutionalcredibility 129
7 Trustandcollectivememories 148
8 Thetransitionfrommistrusttotrust 167
9 Theconditionsoftrustandthecapacityfordialog 201
Bibliography 212
Index 236
vii
Tables and figures
Tables
5.1 TrustinsocialinstitutionsinSweden,2000 page110
5.2 Correlationsbetweensocialtrustandtrustinsocial
institutions,1996–1999 111
5.3 TrustinothersaccordingtoWVS1995–1997(worldand
Sweden) 113
5.4 Multivariateanalysisofinterpersonaltrust 114
5.5 Factoranalysisofdimensionsininstitutionaltrust 115
5.6 Correlationsbetweensocialtrustandtrustinsocial
institutions 116
Figures
3.1 Numberofpublishedscholarlypapersonsocialcapital,
1991–2003 44
4.1 Interestinworkinginvoluntaryorganizations,1955and1994 75
4.2 Opinionsabouttrustinotherpeople,1981–1997 89
4.3 InterpersonaltrustinSweden,1996–2002 90
5.1 Universalandselectivebenefitsandgeneralizedtrust,2000 125
viii
