IS SOCIAL TRUST IN DECLINE? 18 September 2017

1. Brave New WorldA series of 3 lectures / discussions With Professor Joseph A. Camilleri OAMhosted by St Michael’s on Collins11, 18 & 25 September 2018 IS SOCIAL TRUST IN DECLINE? 18 September 2017

2. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World • Written in 1931, published in 1932 • Set in a futuristic World State of genetically modified citizens and an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific developments in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning a utopian society challenged only by a single outsider. • Comparison with George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four • What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that no one would want to read a book. • Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would so condition us that we would be reduced to passive beings concerned with their own little world of instant gratification. • Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. • Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture.

3. FIRST THEY CAME. . . Pastor Martin Niemöller First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me

4. What is Trust • Trust in society means the widespread expectation & confidence that persons and institutions (especially those that exercise authority in the public sphere) are truthful, that is, ready to tell the truth, to the best of their knowledge and understanding, and act in the light of that truth. which means, among things, living up to the promises they make and the values they claim to uphold. • This applies most obviously to the political sphere – to the polity. • Just as importantly, it applies to all persons and institutions that have a public profile – to all those whose words and actions have wide-ranging impact on public well-being:

5. Why Is Trust Important? • Trust ≠ some feel-good emotion. It is the heart and soul of mutually fulfilling personal relationships, as it is of a well functioning society • In the absence of trust, both personal relationships and society at large become unsettled, the source of anxiety and fear. • Prolonged lack of trust conditioning of the mind, which leads people to think they can’t escape a highly negative or painful situation – even when there are opportunities to do so ═LEARNED HELPLESSNESS • A society in which ‘learned helplessness’ is deeply ingrained a despondent and angry ‘plague on all your houses’ attitude to politics – and eventually to populism and extremism.

6. Trust Deficit If one looks at today’s. . . world, we face a terrible lack of trust. Lack of trust between peoples, between Governments and political establishments. Lack of trust between countries and lack of trust in relation to governance in global multilateral institutions. UN Secretary-General António Guterres 13 February 2017 • We are suffering from an acute trust deficit • Trust is in short supply at time when it is most needed

7. Trust in US Government at historic Low

8. Democracy US Style Right to Choose

9. EUROPE Trust in Politicians 2002-2017

10. Minor Party Share of Vote in Federal Elections

11. Australia: Cynicism about Politics People in government Look after themselves

12. Australia – Trust in Institutions

13. Trust Deficit • What is most alarming about the trust deficit? • It is not the fact that many in high places are deceitful or corrupt • But that deceit and corruption are now accepted as the new normal. • The danger is that with time this becomes the national or even global culture. • Recent decades have seen a steady erosion of trust in • PUBLIC MORALITY – declining respect for institutions that were once norm setters • RULE OF LAW – shift to privatisation and deregulation • WORKINGS OF THE MARKET

14. Workings of the Market • Neo-liberal ascendancy of the market at a time when: • Increasingly permissive attitude to financial innovation • Leaving it to the judgment of millions of investors and customers may not work, when information is complex and mistakes can have horrendous consequences • A tribe of people has emerged to inform and assist investors and customers large and small: lawyers, accountants, advisers, financial planners, analysts, rating agencies and appraisers – but collectively they have failed to ensure trustworthiness and honesty in the markets • One important reason: many of these gatekeepers have turned their main focus from gate-keeping to profit-making.

15. Factors making for Mistrust • Lack of truthfulness & transparency • Breakdown in communication between political class and civil society • Institutionalisation of corrupt practices – in both private and public sectors • A growing sense that: • the world is chaotic • no one is in control • existing institutions are not working • No clear sense of how to respond to the multiple challenges of a rapidly globalising world.

16. Resources • Joseph Camilleri’s website www.josephcamilleri.org • Maureen Gaffney ‘The Crisis of Trust in Politics and Lack of Reform’ • Pearls and Irritations • Ngara Institute • The Conversation • Le Monde Diplomatique – English edition