"In others we trust": Finland and Norway – High Trust Societies in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

During the Covid-19 pandemic, trust has been identified as a key mechanism in pandemic containment. Norway and Finland, two Nordic countries with high trust scores, are cited as best-practice examples. In a qualitative research project on the theoretical construct of caring economics conducted by the author, the deep societal anchoring of trust and integrity has been confirmed in both countries. Based on the empirical example of the Nordic countries, the concept of caring economics emphasizes partnerism and thereby the real wealth of nations. Dugnad/Dugnadsånd, which refers to collective effort, is a trust-based Norwegian type of commons and commoning that can be regarded as an intersection with caring economics. Dugnad/Dugnadsånd integrates the various notions of interpersonal, system, and institutional trust, and thus widely supports mechanisms of pandemic control.

Norwegian Rural Vigilantism during COVID-19: Self-Protection against a Perceived Urban Threat

“…In some nations, economic instabilities caused by the pandemic gave rise to sociopolitical unrest, as governments struggled to protect the lives and livelihoods of citizens, and particularly the already marginalised communities (Comolli, 2022;Menton et al 2020;Reininger et al 2022). The pandemic management policy in the Nordic "high trust societies" (Hedenigg, 2021) was on the one hand largely trust-based (Saunes et al 2021), where some measures (e.g. social distancing, curfews) were soft law recommendations.…”