Declining trust in government reflects trustworthiness, not citizen psychology

Evidence

If the decline is real, it must be a decline in perceived trustworthiness. Of course, it might rather be a decline in faith or some stance that is labeled trust in the vernacular. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 732

Categorization

• QUESTION: The 1990s claim of declining government trust is contested; this is worth verifying against recent data on trust in institutions.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 732
• XREF: connects to: Declining trust in government stems from increased knowledge, not worsened performance; Survey ‘trust in government’ reduces to confidence, not interpersonal trust; Trust in government is trust in capacity, unlike interpersonal trust (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Trust in government is trust in capacity, unlike interpersonal trust #expands (0.85)
• Survey ‘trust in government’ reduces to confidence, not interpersonal trust #complicates (0.82)
• Standard survey measures of generalized trust actually gauge perceived decency, not trust #complicates (0.75)