High trust society in Spain: a rural myth that didn't survive
The debate over a high trust society in Spain shows social trust eroded long before immigration. An analysis of the rural and urban myth.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Spain's "high trust society": a village memory that doesn't hold up to scrutiny
Did Spain ever have a high trust society? The term, imported from the anglosphere, has become a nostalgic catch-all for talking about community decline. But the answer divides people: while some deny there was ever a golden age here, others place that paradise in the villages, and barely fifteen years ago.
Social atomization is not a recent phenomenon. The rural exodus already filled the cities with anonymous people who don't know one another, and the rental market, with its constant turnover, finished off the neighborly bond. Immigration didn't create the problem, though it has strained it: cultural difference, language and unfamiliar customs reinforce the distance and feed a distrust that already existed.
Civic factors add to this: the loss of individual freedom, declining education and a culture of responsibility that is conspicuously absent. Without these pillars, cooperation becomes the exception, and wariness the rule. A stranger doesn't need to seem odd for us to lock the door twice; modern life already imposes it.
The Spanish high trust society can be reduced to the memory of a village where children ran around and doors were left open. But that model never extended to the cities, nor did it survive mobility. The nostalgia is understandable; trust, on the other hand, is still under construction.
Did Spain ever have a high trust society? The term, imported from the anglosphere, has become a nostalgic catch-all for talking about community decline. But the answer divides people: while some deny there was ever a golden age here, others place that paradise in the villages, and barely fifteen years ago.
Social atomization is not a recent phenomenon. The rural exodus already filled the cities with anonymous people who don't know one another, and the rental market, with its constant turnover, finished off the neighborly bond. Immigration didn't create the problem, though it has strained it: cultural difference, language and unfamiliar customs reinforce the distance and feed a distrust that already existed.
Civic factors add to this: the loss of individual freedom, declining education and a culture of responsibility that is conspicuously absent. Without these pillars, cooperation becomes the exception, and wariness the rule. A stranger doesn't need to seem odd for us to lock the door twice; modern life already imposes it.
The Spanish high trust society can be reduced to the memory of a village where children ran around and doors were left open. But that model never extended to the cities, nor did it survive mobility. The nostalgia is understandable; trust, on the other hand, is still under construction.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (12 replies).
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