What is the 'distrustful consideration' that a society that cannot believe in each other pays?
It is often pointed out that while technological advances have dramatically made the lives of modern people more convenient, at the same time the connections between people are becoming estranged. Farnam Street, a liberal arts blog, discusses
The High Price of Mistrust – Farnam Street
https://fs.blog/2021/01/mistrust/
In his 2001 book, Bowling Alone, American political scientist Robert Putnam said, 'The weakening of mutual trust is the cause of community decline, and as a result. But that distrust is high. ' Farnam Street points out that this law is still alive in the society of 2021, 20 years after Putnam wrote Bowling Alone.
Amazon | Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community | Putnam, Robert D. | 20th Century
For example, a family who has a family relationship with a neighbor can help each other by having their child picked up at school when they are busy, or by taking care of their neighbor when their neighbor is busy. .. However, if this is not possible, you will have to spend money to leave your child in a day care facility or give up doing something after your child returns from school.
In this way, what is lost due to the dilution of social relations is called 'social capital' by Mr. Putnam. Regarding the meaning, Mr. Patnam said, 'Physical capital such as tools and human capital such as university education improve the productivity of individuals and society. Similarly, social connections also improve the productivity of individuals and groups. It is influencing. '
When social capital decreases, it may increase. That is the 'transaction cost'. For example, in a safe area, vegetables may be sold at unmanned grocery stores by the side of the road, but if you cannot trust people and you have to worry about your vegetables and money being stolen, leave a salesperson. You will have to keep the store number or wholesale to the supermarket. At this time, the transaction cost is the difference between the wage for the farmer to hire a saleswoman and the price of the supermarket added to the price of the unmanned store.
by Franzfoto by Franzfoto
These transaction costs come to people in every aspect of their lives. People who can't lend or borrow things with their neighbors have to buy appliances and furniture that they only use once, and employers who can't trust employees buy remote monitoring software and install it on their PCs. Have to. Also, if you can't trust your family, you'll start to snoop on your smartphone's search history and lock your room.
In this regard, Farnam Street said, 'One lesson learned from Patnam's book is that building trust is of absolute value, and to know how to build trust, We have no choice but to interact with people. By joining existing communities and creating new ones, we can build relationships of trust. If we are willing to believe in people, I We should get many times more rewards than the risk of being betrayed by humans. '
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