Trust: Building on the Cultural Commons

“Trust: Building on the Cultural Commons” emphasizes the crucial role of the cultural commons: the experience of living together and the customs, practices, knowledge and values that emerge from it. Trust, after all, is a matter of culture, emotion and even aesthetics. Broad trust begins with the sharing of vulnerabilities and Pascal Gielen argues that the commons provide the necessary space for this to happen — a space for breathing, experimentation and collective experience. How can all this contribute to building society and shaping politics?

The author asks how a culture of distrust can be overcome. Contemporary society is increasingly marked by suspicion toward fellow citizens, governments and corporations — a suspicion fueled by the shifting of responsibility and a growing sense of powerlessness. We search for solutions in regulations, contracts, procedures, guarantees, audits, consultations, good governance and transparency. But do these mechanisms truly strengthen trust? Isn’t trust in some sense always partially blind?