British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Trust as a Pre-condition to Communication, Social Thinking and Social Practices During Democratic Transition in Post-Communist Europe
13-15 September 2001
The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH
About the Conference
This symposium is organised by Professor Ivana Markova FBA, and supported by the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris. Fifteen speakers from the UK, France, East Europe and Russia will present papers and participate in round tables on the two main themes of the symposium:
1. Trust in the formation of common sense and of culture; semantic and pragmatic meanings.
This theme will be largely theoretical. It will be concerned with different meanings of trust in historical, social psychological, sociological, political and professional contexts, enabling participants to reflect, conceptually and theoretically, on the heterogeneity of the notion of trust.
2. The bases of trust and distrust in traditional democracies and in post-communist countries of Europe: discourses and practices.
This theme will reflect on theoretical and empirical perspectives of the studies of trust in Europe, and illustrate some of the present concerns in countries with traditional democracies and in post-communist countries. Is trust necessary for democracy? Is the present society drained of trust? What is the meaning of trust in different socio-political and interpersonal contexts? Do we need trust to function as citizens?
Participation by invitation only: further details from Carol Rennie at the British Academy, 020 79695278
Text publication
Papers from this conference were published in 2004 as Trust and Democratic Transition in Post-Communist Europe, edited by Ivana Markova (Proceedings of the British Academy, 123)