CULTURE OF TRUST AS A RESOURCE FOR SOCIAL INTERGATION IN BORDER REGIONS OF RUSSIA

Abstract

Trust fulfils important functions in society, smoothing cultural differences and social contradictions, contributing to greater cohesion and solidarity, integration of citizens on the basis of shared interests. It is a twofold process, supposing interdependence of the truster and the trustee. Existing in society social norms, values, rules of behavior and representations characterize the culture of trust and as significant resource for social development.  Empirical materials of sociological survey conducted in one border region of Russian – the Altai territory (n = 620, respondents’ age from 18 to 75 years), authors examine components of the culture of trust, represented by indicators of generalized and institutional trust, trust towards social environment, particularized forms of trust and interrelations almond them. The main conclusion is the acknowledgment of the «crisis of trust» at the societal level, its tough social-economic determination. The trust becomes a luxury, accessible only for several categories of citizens, or forced response to sharp poverty and social vulnerability, while particularized practices based on group favoritism, compensating the lack of trust, are proliferating. Hence, the resource of trust and its potential can’t be used without creation of institutional conditions, adequate for social realities, which encourage the decrease of social anxiety and optimization of social moods.