"Economic Inequality: A Matter of Trust?"

Economic Inequality: A Matter of Trust?

Posted by Amy Davidson at the New Yorker

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“The data show that not only is there declining trust in government, there is declining trust in other people”; although it wasn’t exclusive to them, this shift was “concentrated among these poor kids, the kids who have been left out,” Putnam said. “They are deeply, deeply cynical about the whole world.… Basically, they don’t trust anybody. And for good reason.” This was not some “wave of adolescent paranoia,” but a recognition of having been let down. Everyone really is against them.

These young people, Putnam said, were becoming “extremely alienated from democratic politics.” (That is, democratic with a small “d.”) A generation was not being put “in a position to be contributing democratic citizens.” And that was, or could become, dangerous.

“There are a number of studies that show that correlation. It’s strong and very robust, in the sense the pattern shows up not just in the U.S., but around the world, and not just today, but across time,” he said. “There remains a serious academic debate about causation—does inequality cause low trust, or does low trust (or rather, low social solidarity) cause inequality, or are both the effects of some as yet undiscovered third variable?”

Some of the causes were, Putnam said, best spotted through “blue, progressive lenses” (working-class wages) and others through “red, conservative lenses” (absent fathers). But from any angle, the situation was “morally objectionable to me, and, I think, to all Americans,” he said. “Americans don’t care how long or tall the ladder is,” he said. “Historically, they’ve cared a lot if they’re getting on the ladder at the same rung.” The central question was, “Is it O.K. for poor kids with talent not to have a chance?”





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