High-trust and low-trust societies

Last updated August 27, 2025

A low-trust society is defined as one in which interpersonal trust is relatively low, and shared ethical values are lacking.^[1] Conversely, a high-trust society is one where interpersonal trust is relatively high, and where ethical values are strongly shared.

Institutions and mechanisms

According to researchers, low-trust societies are typically kinship-based;^[1] outcomes of low-trust societies can include difficulty in forming and maintaining corporate structures.^[2] Mechanisms and institutions that are corrupted, dysfunctional, or absent in low-trust societies include respect for private property rights, a trusted civil court system, democratic voting and acceptance of electoral outcomes, and voluntary tax payment.^[3] Research has identified a correlation between linear-active cultures (i.e. following a daily schedule with a single task at a time)^[4] with high-trust societies, and multi-active cultures (flexible schedules with many tasks at once, often in an unplanned order) with low-trust cultures.^[5]

Self-governance

High-trust societies display a high degree of mutual trust not imposed by outside "contractual, legal or hierarchical regulation", but instead are based upon "prior moral consensus".^[1] Much writing on the subject refers to Francis Fukuyama's 1995 book, Trust: Social Virtues and Creation of Prosperity, in which he describes "the ability of various peoples to organize effectively for commercial purposes without relying on blood ties or government intervention".^[6]

References

1 2 3 Natale, S.M.; Hoffman, R.P.; Hayward, G. (1998). Business Education and Training: Corporate Structures, Business, and the Management of Values. Business education and training : a value-laden process. University Press of America. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-7618-1003-2.
↑ Govier, Trudy (1997). Social Trust and Human Communities. Social Trust and Human Communities. Montreal; Buffalo: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-7735-1680-9.
↑ Rose, D.C. (2011). The Moral Foundation of Economic Behavior. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-19-978177-5.
↑ Lewis, Richard D. (2015). When cultures collide: leading across cultures; a major new edition of the global guide (PDF) (3 ed.). Boston, MA: Brealey. pp. 145–151. ISBN 978-1-904838-02-9. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2025-06-16. Retrieved 2025-08-27.
↑ Hopkins, B. (2012). Cultural Differences and Improving Performance: How Values and Beliefs Influence Organizational Performance. Ashgate Publishing Limited. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-4094-5862-3.
↑ Fukuyama, Francis (1996). TRUST. A Free Press paperbacks book (1 ed.). New York: Free Press. ISBN 978-0-02-910976-2.

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High-trust and low-trust societies

Contents

Institutions and mechanisms

Self-governance

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References

Further reading