Trust and Affect

Workshop

Organization: Andreas Schindel and Prof. Dr. Martin Saar (Working group 4: “Knowledge”)

Politicians gain trust by articulating the anger of some citizens in an authentic way. Past injuries persist over time and make it difficult for underprivileged social groups to develop general trust in society. Climate anxiety strengthens distrust in traditional political institutions and motivates political activists to experiment with new kinds of political action. The concept of trust seems to point towards a dimension of social life which exceeds conscious and calculative behaviour. In the literature on trust it is widely accepted that trust cannot be built in absence of knowledge, but that it is opposed to full knowledge as well. Hence, there is good reason to assume that the gap between incomplete knowledge and the willingness to trust a person or an institution is often bridged by feelings or emotions. The workshop will elaborate on this affective side of trust. In particular, we will discuss the (inter-)relation of affects and knowledge in the emergence, maintenance and loss of trust.

In the first session, we will discuss the general connection between trust and affect and different options to conceptualize affect as an aspect of trust. Since the necessity for trust is based on certain ontological conditions, the second session will focus on uncertainty and vulnerability as implications and general experiences of social and political life. This also concerns the question how to analyze the power of unforeseen events to cause intense affective reactions and the functioning of affective economies in the public sphere. In the third session, we will look at the politics of fear and its consequences for trust/distrust in political institutions, epistemic authorities and the wisdom of crowds.

Program

13:00 – 14:15 (Session 1)
Prof. Dr. Robert Seyfert (University of Kiel): Trust and Affect

14:15 – 14:45
Coffee Break

14:45 – 16:00 (Session 2)
Dr. Brigitte Bargetz (University of Kiel): (Dis)Trust and Fear

16:00 – 16:30
Coffee Break

16:30 – 17:45 (Session 3)
Prof. Dr. Christine Hentschel (University of Hamburg): Uncertainty – Vulnerability – Trust