Title: Rethinking Trust: Unveiling the Dynamics of Trust and Distrust 

Research on trust is highly interdisciplinary and has produced an impressive body of knowledge about its forms, causes and consequences. However, existing research agendas have notable biases, two of which are the focus of this presentation: first, research privileges trust while marginalising distrust, resulting in an incomplete and flawed understanding; second, it engages in sweeping generalisations, overlooking distinctions between trust in people, institutions and machines. This presentation proposes ways to conceptualise trust and distrust as complementary phenomena and explores the specific dynamics that govern trust relationships with humans, institutions and machines. 

Bio: 

Christian Lahusen is Professor of Sociology at the University of Siegen, Germany.  In his work Lahusen has paid special attention to the relation between state authorities and citizens, focusing on both the attitudinal and the behavioural levels. He has been studying political and civic engagement, in later years with a strong focus on solidarity and trust. His work documents the importance of citizens’ empowerment, but also the situational and contextual conditions that hamper it. His recurrent involvement in large-scale interdisciplinary research projects has led to a number of co-authored publications. He has published extensively in the fields of political sociology, contentious politics and societal integration and has led several national and international research projects in these areas. Lahusen was the coordinator of the Horizon 2020 project Enlightened trust: An examination of trust and distrust in governance – conditions, effects and remedies.