Research report 2006 - Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies

Why do we trust? A theoretical approach to an everyday problem

Authors
Möllering, Guido
Departments

Soziologie des Marktes (Prof. Dr. Jens Beckert)
MPI für Gesellschaftsforschung, Köln

Summary
Because trust is based on many things in everyday life, research on trust needs to follow many paths of inquiry. Research and real-life events show that the foundation of trust is the willing suspension of uncertainty. When people trust, they set uncertainty aside and make a leap of faith, all the while knowing they might need to bring uncertainty back in if facts contradict their expectations.

For the full text, see the German version.

Zur Redakteursansicht