American society is experiencing a profound crisis of trust, from government to mass media to educational and religious institutions. And -- whether we realize it or not -- this crisis affects us all.
In Building Cultures of Trust, Martin Marty proposes ways of improving the conditions for trust at what might be called the -grass roots- level. He suggests that it makes a difference if citizens put energy into inventing, developing, and encouraging -cultures of trust- in all areas of life -- families, schools, neighborhoods, workplaces, churches, and more. Marty believes that such efforts at trust-building will do more than trickle up to larger areas of society; it will become a slow spreading of habits of honesty, inspiring trust on a culture-changing scale.
Far from naive, Marty realizes that the reality of human nature tends towards trust-breaking, not trust-building. All the more reason, he argues, to develop strategies to bring about improvements, one small step at a time.
