Expert Comment: Unemployment could undermine social trust in Europe
Published on December 2, 2022
Take a moment to think about your activities today. You may have used public transport to go to work, paid for lunch using a credit card, or left your bag in an open plan office. All these activities rely on social trust – the feeling strangers can be trusted.
Social trust is fundamental to life in contemporary societies, as it facilitates cooperation with people we do not know – bus drivers, shopkeepers, and colleagues and so on. But there are troubling signs for the labour market – and for social trust.
Dr Leo Azzollini, Postdoctoral Researcher at Oxford’s Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science and Department of Social Policy.