Only 1 in 4 Americans now agree that most people can be trusted. What has caused the decline of trust and what can be done about it?
Americans are suffering more than ever from a lack of trust in their fellow humans. Those are findings from the latest General Social Survey, a sociological survey that has tracked changes in American society since 1972. Trust is crucial for a society because people are unwilling or unable to put their faith in one another without it.
According to the GSS, 25.3 percent of respondents in 2022—representing 1 in 4 Americans—said that “most people can be trusted”. This is down from 46.8 percent of respondents in 1972. In a previous survey known as the DDB Needham Life Style Survey, Americans’ trust peaked in 1967–1968, when 56% of survey respondents agreed that “most people can be trusted.” You can see the trends between 1972 and 2022 below.
The GSS question on trust represents a concept known as generalized trust. Generalized trust is a more optimistic point of view than particularized trust, which is a more pessimistic concept in the context of social faith. People with high generalized trust would expect a stranger to return their purse or their wallet to them if they lost it. People with high particularized trust would expect a stranger to steal that same wallet or purse if they found it.
Put another way, generalized and particularized trust suggest how much risk someone sees in “most people”. Those with more generalized trust believe that people generally share their values and would act as they would in most situations. Those with more particularized trust only trust a small circle of individuals to share their positions.
The findings from the GSS suggest that more Americans than ever have abandoned generalized trust in favor of particularized trust.
The chart below shows the decline another way: by regions of the country as assigned in the GSS.
What’s behind the decline?
Social trust is correlated with increased civic participation, decreased corruption, increased resilience to disasters, decreased economic inequality, and decreases in illegal activities. It is also correlated with increased health, happiness, and intelligence. The inverse of any combination of these factors could be blamed for the decline of generalized trust, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
The GSS asks questions of several factors that would make sense in relation to the decline of trust. I’ve written previously about twelve such factors. These include gender, age, class, political preferences, and religiosity, but they barely correlate with the decline of generalized trust. Race, however, is the most significant factor I’ve found that correlates with the decline.
Generalized trust was consistently more rare among non-White Americans than White Americans between 1972 and 2022. White Americans’ trust in “most people” declined during that same period. For reference, the GSS variable for race only records “White”, “Black” or “Other” (grouped here as “non-White”). The GSS has only tracked ethnicities like Hispanic or Latino since the year 2000.
The chart below raises at least two questions. First, why do most non-White Americans only trust small circles of people? Second, why are more White Americans only trusting smaller circles of people compared to the past?
Much has been written about race and trust in the United States. The consensus on trust among non-Whites cites systemic racism, racial discrimination, neighborhood circumstances, and economic inequality as the reasons why they are less trusting than Whites. There is less consensus on the decline of trust among Whites, though leading theories draw in part from a supposed White backlash to America’s growing diversity and the so-called “end of White Christian America”.
If this decline of generalized trust continues, Americans—and White Americans in particular—will become even more alienated, isolated, and paranoid of their fellow residents. They will break into smaller and smaller groups to find power and meaning, choosing to particularize their trust in the process. These groups will be less willing to compromise or even communicate with one another, often resorting to anger or violence to deliver their messages. Americans are already seeing this bear out in their institutions: case in point, the 118th Congress was the least productive in decades by number of laws passed.
Without interventions, the us-versus-them approach to trust will lead to more collective suffering among Americans and fewer solutions to their shared problems.
What can be done?
“Optimism is the beginning of the causal chain [for faith in others], leading to trust and then to good deeds—and then to more optimism,” writes political scientist Eric M. Uslaner. Americans need reasons to feel optimistic together instead of pursuing wins over one another. Shared good deeds are how Americans can restore their generalized trust.
Education is one route. Education, particularly in socially diverse environments, can introduce us to perspectives and cultures outside of our particularized groups. The correlation between highest degree earned and trust in the GSS is second in significance only to race. The chart below shows that all Americans lost generalized trust regardless of their education levels, but those with higher degrees were still more trusting than those with lower or no degrees. Increasing state and federal funding for education could lead to an increase in generalized trust.
High-quality moral leadership is another route to restoring trust. Americans need leaders who can inspire with their values more than with their charisma. Politicians rarely satisfy this need on a national level, so local community leaders must fill this role. Most of us are surrounded by helpers who keep our communities humming and reinforce the trust we do have. Americans need more exposure to these helpers so we can be inspired by the good deeds they share. (I humbly submit my podcast, The Plural of You, as one platform for celebrating the helpers among us.)
Another approach borrowed from author Robert P. Jones would be to memorialize past acts of violence with love, no matter how troubling they may seem. Jones argues that this approach can heal communities where physical and economic violence has been inflicted, especially in non-White settings. He cites the memorials of three such events as having restorative effects: the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi, the lynchings of Black circus workers in Duluth, Minnesota, and the Black Wall Street massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma. By acknowledging and preserving such events, Jones says communities can come together, find common ground, and gather resilience.
Finally, Americans need more personal accountability. In other words, they need to accept more responsibility for their actions and live more trustworthy lives. This can be as simple as following the Golden Rule when interacting with others. Groups who promote and protect their do-gooders would be the building blocks of a more trusting society.
The decline of generalized trust in the United States does not have to be a lost cause. Although there is no magic bullet that will stop the decline completely, there is still hope for progress among the willing.
What do you think? Check out what other people have said on /r/dataisbeautiful and /r/mapporn.
To view the methodology statement for this article, click here for the .pdf file.
To view the data used in this article, click here for the .xlsx file.
Also From the Author
“Learning to Trust Again”: Stories and other information about trust for Reader’s Digest.
“The Decline of Trust in the United States: A Look at the Trend and What Can Be Done About It”: A deeper look into factors that correlate with trust.