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In Government We Distrust: Citizen Skepticism and Democracy in the United States

In Government We Distrust: Citizen Skepticism and Democracy in the United States AbstractVirtually all accounts of political trust in the US regard declining trust over the past half-century to be troubling. We argue that these interpretations are in need of reassessment since they often are rooted in the normatively questionable assumption that higher trust is always desirable. We review traditions in democratic theory and American thought extolling the virtues of skepticism and distrust of government and discuss potential problems in common trust measures and conclusions based on them. Using data from the 2014 General Social Survey, we explore relationships between trust, commitment to being vigilant watchdogs of government, and attitudes and behaviors generally considered desirable for a healthy democracy. Our findings indicate that higher trust is not always accompanied by characteristics of good democratic citizens. In fact, it is those individuals who exhibit lower levels of trust with high levels of vigilance who are most politically engaged. Thus, healthy skepticism of government may contribute to the vitality of democracy. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Forum de Gruyter

In Government We Distrust: Citizen Skepticism and Democracy in the United States

The Forum , Volume 13 (3): 25 – Oct 1, 2015

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References (73)

Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
©2015 by De Gruyter
ISSN
1540-8884
eISSN
1540-8884
DOI
10.1515/for-2015-0029
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AbstractVirtually all accounts of political trust in the US regard declining trust over the past half-century to be troubling. We argue that these interpretations are in need of reassessment since they often are rooted in the normatively questionable assumption that higher trust is always desirable. We review traditions in democratic theory and American thought extolling the virtues of skepticism and distrust of government and discuss potential problems in common trust measures and conclusions based on them. Using data from the 2014 General Social Survey, we explore relationships between trust, commitment to being vigilant watchdogs of government, and attitudes and behaviors generally considered desirable for a healthy democracy. Our findings indicate that higher trust is not always accompanied by characteristics of good democratic citizens. In fact, it is those individuals who exhibit lower levels of trust with high levels of vigilance who are most politically engaged. Thus, healthy skepticism of government may contribute to the vitality of democracy.

Journal

The Forumde Gruyter

Published: Oct 1, 2015

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