We must have trust

Are contract-based relationships killing the drive for a better, more equal society? Dartington’s CEO Vaughan Lindsay talks to Charlotte Young, Chair of the School for Social Entrepreneurs, to hear the case for good old-fashioned trust.

You think that trust underpins a fair society. Tell us more.

Charlotte Young: Trust is a vital currency in any healthy society. It leads to strong relationships that provide support and create greater sharing of rights and responsibilities and wider emotional rewards. Trust matters because it is hugely satisfying and remarkably efficient.

But we trust each other less than we used to?

CY: Yes. We trust one another far less than we did, especially those one-time solid institutions, big business, banks and, not-surprisingly, politicians.

And what are the causes for this change?

CY: Over the last 25 years or so the focus on citizen rights, fairness, health and safety, public accountability and an obsession with scale, together with handing over large swathes of public activity to highly trained but emotionally disengaged professionals, has produced a society based on contractual relationships, usually commercially based and with a strong emphasis on financial reward for performance. These contracts hugely increase transaction costs through elaborate bidding, delivery and control mechanisms; they also virtually remove the motivational and capability benefits of full local engagement.

What effect, in your view, is this having on society?

CY: The shift towards a contract-based society leaves the majority of individuals less willing and less able to contribute to social wellbeing. For some activities, contractual delivery must be the answer but the trend had gone too far.

So how do we bring back societal trust?

CY: We need a focus instead on local solutions to local problems. We need to be sure that we are both building bonding relationships (those in and around immediate contacts like family and neighbours) and bridging relationships (across social and institutional boundaries). There need to be enough trusted helpers and facilitators and small and focused packets of money, not big funding.

Is this the Big Society by another name?

CY: The opportunities provided by the “Big Society” umbrella – to take devolved power and build local alliances – could allow both space and justification for re-growing trusting relationships. This is especially valuable for those who have both the intimate understanding of and the creativity and passion to resolve apparently insoluble social issues.

Do you think people are willing?

CY: There are hundreds of thousands of people willing and able to make ours a better society. They may not be joined up into a movement, but they are a potent source of energy and creativity.

So how can we change things?

CY: I think we need to do three things: build ‘social capital’ through face-to-face collaboration, support like-minded people and above all, have courage by thinking the unthinkable and asking the unaskable. We have an opportunity to build and sustain strong local initiatives led by committed activists. Don’t let’s allow the chance to slip by: trust is probably the most valuable currency a society can own.

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