Trust, trustworthiness and social change in Slovakia

Davide Torsello*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

This article argues that trust cannot be easily isolated as a form of social interaction without the risk of overseeing the nuance between practices and ideas. Using a case study of a rural community in post-socialist Slovakia, the author examines how trust and trustworthiness are built and applied under conditions of profound social transformation. Following mainstream anthropological approaches to post-socialism, he shows that this transformation has deeply affected the patterns of local social interaction. Moreover, following Slovakia's recent EU accession, increased social and work mobility have further complicated the picture. If trust remains a crucial idea underpinning individual social choices, cognitive constructions of trustworthiness tend to diverge from practices. This is due, among other factors, to the difficulty of calibrating spatial and temporal mental models of trustworthiness with trust as social action.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)96-118
Number of pages23
JournalAnthropological Journal of European Cultures
Volume17
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2008
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Post-socialism
  • Rural society
  • Slovakia
  • Social change
  • Trust

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