Law and ethics. Trust as social capital and as encapsulated interests.

Abstract

In this article, Fukuyama explores “the range of theoretical approaches that have been used to explain the origins of social trust and its precursor, social capital.” Noting that the phenomenon of trust “has been a subject of inquiry across a broad range of disciplines, including economics, political science, sociology, psychology, and anthropology,” Fukuyama argues that each approach to trust is different and that “there is actually some ground for synthesizing these approaches, since each captures an important part of the phenomenon.” For Fukuyama, “Trust . . . is a psychological state that is epiphenomenal to the more basic concept of social capital.” For Fukuyama, “Social capital consists of norms or values instantiated in an actual relationship among two or more people, that promote cooperation between them.” For Fukuyama, “A group of people embedding such norms will tend to trust one another more than those who do not, or will at least have been grounds for coming to a decision on whether to trust.”