Where we live affects our attitudes and quality of life. This doesn’t just mean the physical environment, it includes the kind of people who live nearby. This may be obvious but it becomes a sensitive issue for public policy when the extent of diversity, and in particular ethnic diversity, appears to have a big impact on our views.
According to a number of surveys, there has been a clear decline in our levels of trust in others. Some dispute whether the scale of the decline is as great as others claim, or whether reported levels of trust gathered through surveys are meaningful. But on balance it seems that there has been a significant fall, particularly if we look at trends since the 1950s.
The reasons for this decline are hotly debated, particularly as there seems to be an “education paradox” – high trust is strongly linked with higher levels of education, yet despite rising levels of education, trust has continued to decline.
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