Trust as the bedrock of social resilience

The recently-released Future Resilient Systems (FRS) Technical Note, Download ‘Trust – A Prerequisite for Social Resilience’ (PDF, 179 KB) focuses on an essential element by which social resilience could be fostered: trust.

Currently, we are experiencing an increasing fragmentation and continued challenges worldwide. These include global warming, energy crises, increasing urbanisation and crowded cities, increasing migration, rapid technological changes as well as widening generational, income and education gaps. Hence, it is imperative for societies around the world to improve their capacities to remain resilient in the face of all sorts of adversities.

This Technical Note argues that social resilience can be bolstered through enhancing social trust through the well-functioning of social contracts and compacts.

A social contract/compact outlines the moral and political rights, benefits and obligations of individuals within a society, as well as the state’s obligations to the people and the basis of the legitimacy of its authority. A well-functioning social contract/compact perceived as legitimate by the public may have positive implications for major indicators of social resilience, like collective participation or social cohesion.

Trust seems to be a crucial element for the functioning of social contracts/compacts, based on its decisive role for compliance and cooperation, especially if payoffs are uncertain. Identifying citizens’ trust profiles would help to reveal rifts in social contracts, which could and should be addressed to uphold social resilience.