Social Distrust: Paradigms of Analysis, Sources, Functions (Towards Formulation of a Problem)

This article attempts to overcome a traditionally negative perception of social distrust by examining this phenomenon in different perspectives and identifying its primary sources and functions through a socio-cultural lens. To achieve this, it analyzes three dimensions of distrust: cognitive, emotional, and behavioral, defining this phenomenon as encompassing knowledge, suspicion, and caution. The article specifically focuses on social dimensions of distrust, rather than its psychological aspects. Four analytical paradigms of distrust are discussed: economic, which is based on Francis Fukuyama works; psychological, which includes Erik Erikson and Vladimir P. Zinchenko among others; sociological that features contributions by Georg Simmel, Nicklas Luhmann, Anthony Giddens, among others; and philosophical, with references to Karl Jaspers, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud. The findings of the research suggest that distrust can be considered at least neutrally only within the sociological and philosophical paradigms. The article further explores social sources of distrust, including mechanisms of social group formation, processes of socialization, and epistemological sources such as skepticism and ideology. It demonstrates the dynamic nature of distrust boundaries in modern societies, as well as the varying standards of trust and distrust between traditional and contemporary contexts. In addition to that the article identifies four primary functions of distrust: historical, cognitive-reductionist, controlling, and integrative. The article highlights the pivotal role of distrust during periods of societal crisis and examines the unique characteristics of trust and distrust within Soviet society, and it questions the role of distrust in contemporary Russian society.

Keywords: social distrust; trust; research paradigm; sources of distrust; functions of distrust