Class 26. Why Trust Matters in a Democracy
The threats may be coming from far away, but the real problem is us.
[A] despot easily forgives his subjects for not loving him, provided they do not love each other. He does not ask them to assist him in governing the State; it is enough that they do not aspire to govern it themselves. He stigmatizes as turbulent and unruly spirits those who would combine their exertions to promote the prosperity of the community, and, perverting the natural meaning of words, he applauds as good citizens those who have no sympathy for any but themselves. — Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol. 2, Ch.4
Now that we’re in 2024 and skipping along the path towards an authoritarian hellscape, I thought I’d open with the above quote from Alexis de Tocqueville. You may be wondering if I am getting ahead on the syllabus to talk about demagogues and dictators; I’m not. But after spending the last year discussing Russian active measures and how disinformation achieves the Kremlin’s goals of destablization, demoralization, and delegitimization, I want to turn our attention inwards and ask:
Why do these disinfomation tactics work so well here in the U.S.?
Tocqueville’s observations about despots help answer that question. More specifically, they illuminate a critical ingredient without which a healthy democracy can’t function: Social trust.
“Social trust” might sound like a foo-foo concept, but it’s one that can actually be studied and measured as an indicator of a society’s health. Political scientists, sociologists, and philosophers use the term “social capital” — coined in 1916 by a rural public school supervisor — which Harvard Professor Robert Putnam defines in his book, Bowling Alone, as follows:
[S]ocial capital refers to connections among individuals — social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them. In that sense social capital is closely related to what some have called ‘civic virtue.’ The difference is that ‘social capital’ calls attention to the fact that civic virtue is most powerful when embedded in a dense network of reciprocal social relations.
Basically, just like the value we get from financial capital (which helps our economy), or human capital (which helps our productivity), the value we get from our connections to each other — social capital — helps our democracy. In fact, high levels of social trust are not only correlated with increased civic participation — things like voting, serving on juries, and being politically engaged — but also with public-spirited actions like paying taxes, volunteering, donating blood, and giving to charity. Conversely, lower levels of social trust are correlated with higher crime rates and greater levels of corruption.
It’s worth pausing here and reflecting on some of these things. Why do people pay taxes? Give blood? Volunteer? Donate to charity? Why do we do things that involve a sacrifice on our part, and for which we may not receive any direct benefit? And hey, as long as we’re asking, why do people obey laws…even ones they don’t agree with? Comply with court decisions…even ones that don’t go their way? Accept the [COUGH COUGH] outcome of elections…even when their candidate doesn’t win? The answer to some of these things is that there are legal consequences if you don’t — but the threat of being caught isn’t the only motivator. And for the more altruistic activities listed above, there’s no enforcement mechanism at all.
Your answers to the brief assignment last week began to get to the heart of the answer to this question. That post asked you to watch some videos of ordinary people directing traffic during the 2019 New York City blackout, and consider their motivations. Here are some of the things you noted:
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