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Trust as a precondition for socio-economic development: what can we learn from the case of Brazil?

This project provides new knowledge on trust and economic processes highly relevant for the handling of the ongoing economic crisis in Europe. It will do so by investigating the cultural conditions for Brazil's impressive economic rise and efforts to ta ckle inequality. More specifically, it will use the implementation of the conditional cash transfer programme Bolsa Familia as a prism for studying the cultural conditions that has made this change possible in a hierarchical society like Brazil.It is of ten pointed out that widespread societal mistrust has been the outcome of the crisis in Europe. This represents a serious challenge for economic recovery and leads to social disintegration, for it is widely recognised that the workings of both societies a nd economies depend upon a certain degree of trust. Furthermore, dominant economic ideology considers that a degree of inequality is necessary to stimulate investment, hard work, economic growth - and consequently, good societies. The juxtaposition o f these two assumptions with existing perspectives in trust research presents us with a riddle, for here, it is widely presumed that trust cannot be a feature of relationships marked by power differences. Thus, it would appear that both trust and inequa lity are preconditions for economic growth, yet cannot occur simultaneously. With the ongoing economic crisis, the question of which societal conditions are favourable for stimulating economic recovery and social cohesion has acquired importance far bey ond theoretical realms.This project will therefore subject this contradictory assumption to critical scrutiny by exploring the cultural conditions for economic growth and reductions in inequality in Brazil. Central research questions focus on how the cultural conditions for trust and hierarchisation have influenced policy, as well as the historical trajectories and social embeddedness of the contradictory ideas about trust, inequality and economic development.

Prosjektleder:
Margit Ystanes
Institusjon:
UoH-sektor/Universitetet i Bergen/Det samfunnsvitenskapelige fak
Aktivitetsnavn:
Samfunnsutviklingens kulturell
Prosjektstatus:
Bevilgning
Prosjektperiode:
01.02.2013 - 31.01.2016
Geografi:
Norge/HORDALAND/BERGEN
Fagområder:
Humaniora/Tverr flerfag. hum. og andre
Prosjektnummer:
220783