If we compare across nations, we find lower levels of reported generalized trust in some societies than in the United States. What questions are people in the United States answering when they say they trust most people? What questions are those in certain other societies answering when they say they do not trust most people? Evidently, we are answering different questions, perhaps because we are differentially alert to the problem of dealing with those with whom we do not have ongoing relationships or perhaps because our background institutional structures differ in the scope of the interactions they protect.

XREF: Connects to comparative political culture and social capital literature (e.g., Putnam, Inglehart) on how institutional context shapes survey responses. SEED: Angle for an essay critiquing raw cross-national trust comparisons as misleading — survey responses are filtered by institutional backdrop and relational norms.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 797