From a society of distrust to a society of trust

Have we shifted into a society of hyper-distrust? If the Covid period was like an enchanted parenthesis in the trust that citizens placed in the State (not without a distrust of the scientific world), distrust seems to have made a comeback: at least such are the lessons of a survey carried out by the OpinionWay institute for Cevipof in early 2023 for four European countries.

The first and main distrust is towards democracy: almost two thirds of French people consider that it does not work well (10 points more than in 2022), compared to less than 40% in Germany and 58% in Italy. This is reflected against politicians as well as parties. The justice system, big businesses, banks, unions and the media are also majorly mistrusted. Distrust peaks for social networks, on par with political parties. Only SMEs and the army obtain a majority of confidence, the local level being also popular. In a society of heightened individualization and growing perceived threats, how can we restore the conditions of trust?