ABSTRACT
Trust is a multidimensional construct that is fundamentally relational. This chapter is concerned with oneself and some other or others whether they are intimates, strangers, or more abstract institutions or groups such as the government, the church, or humanity. The sense of basic trust is a “pervasive attitude toward oneself and the world derived from the experiences of the first year of life”. Social trust is a capacity for cooperation but also reflects a motivation, a willingness’ to believe in others not on the basis of all the evidence but on the basis of what they are sometimes. In the stubborn refusal to accept misanthropic views of humanity, social trust is a source of civic hope. R. Putnam argued that the stock of social trust in the United States has declined because fewer Americans are spending time associating with fellow members of their communities.
