Trust in the face of a pandemic: In search of common ground

Abstract

This article examines the impact of the new coronavirus pandemic on interpersonal trust relationships, as well as trust in government institutions and official sources of information. The empirical base for the study is comprised of “diaries of professionals” — 34 diaries which were kept by social science experts from March 25 to June 10 2020 (“first wave”), and then from the 20th to the 30th of September 2020 (“second wave”) — belonging to sociologists, philosophers, philologists, anthropologists, political scientists, historians, orientalists. Thus, a collection of thick descriptions was collected, representing a mix between a personal diary and research reflective autoethnography. Based on the review of the scientific discussion on the problem of trust, a significant conclusion is made about the contradictions between “trust” itself, which implies the possibility of choice and pertains mainly to interpersonal relations, and ‘confidence’ in social and state institutions, which implies much less agency of the subject of trust. It is concluded that the epidemic has greatly exacerbated the problem of lack of trust, noted in the context of the spread of “post-truth” and “fake news” at a global level, but especially noticeable in Russia, where this deficit significantly undermines the very possibility of basic solidarity. The authors of the diaries, as researchers, note that “comfortable” forms of a trust prevail in their social milieu, which creates some uncertain illusion of security. People tend to trust those who help maintain their identity and relieve fear, as well as their familiar “trusted” sources. However, many of them sense the diminished reliability of these “pillars of trust” in a new unpredictable situation.