Trust in Public Institutions in South Africa

Recently trust has appeared as a key concept for understanding collective action. Trust makes it possible for people to enter into relationships of dependency and cooperation. The particular focus of this book is trust in public institutions in South Africa: to what extent do people trust or distrust public institutions, what makes public institutions trustworthy, and how do trustworthy institutions affect generalized social trust among strangers? Through its various contributions, the book provides an understanding of the dynamics of trust-building in South Africa in relation to national and local institutions, and within various sectors such as agriculture, health and education. The studies are also pertinent to developing countries in general. The volume analyzes specific instantiations of trust/distrust relationships and trust - inducing/reducing conditions in a South African context. This empirical thrust differentiates the book from other literatures and asserts it as a specific South African investigation of different areas and cases in which trust (or the lack thereof) contribute to development.