Nobody believes the official spokesman... but everybody trusts an unidentified source.

Ron Nesen

Introduction

Democratically governed nations require that citizens fulfill their twofold responsibility to challenge institutions so that they might adapt to ever changing social and environmental changes and support institutions so they might serve the needs of the people. Thus, to some extent societal institutions at the same time must be trusted and not trusted. This presentation focuses upon the determinants of trust in societal institutions.


Compass

    Key Questions

      What are the key determinants that affect public trust in societal institutions?

    Examples

      What are the key characteristics of societal institutions that make them trustworthy?

      To what extent do citizens use formal and substantive rationality when evaluating societal institutions?

      Are expressions of substantive rationality conducive to deliberative social policy formation?




Recreancy, Rationality, Trust, and Public Policy

The attached paper describes the roles of citizens, the responsibilities of societal institutions, and the key factors affecting public trust in societal institutions. It describes formal and substantive rationality and the effects of these two forms of rational decision making on the quality of social policy formation.

Consumer Trust in the U.S. Food System: Expressions of Formal and Substantive Rationality Within the Recrancy Theorem.
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