Trey Kay Published

Us & Them: When Will We Trust Again?

WHEN WILL WE TRUST AGAIN? SOCIALS.jpg
Citizens stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 because they say they didn't trust the November 2020 Presidential Election results.
Chris Jones/100 Days in Appalachia
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Our country is seeing a new flavor of partisanship.

We practice a tribalism that’s so intense and personal, it defines much of our life. Who we call friends. Which family members we relate to. Even, how we cast our vote. What drives the divisions between us?

On this episode of Us & Them, we ask how central a lack of trust is to this polarization. After a year of extraordinary social, racial, political and economic upheaval, some people say they’ve lost trust in one another, our institutions and our government. Polls show distrust is as high as it’s been in six decades. What do we risk if we’re unwilling to trust in our fellow Americans?

For this episode, host Trey Kay speaks to several Americans, whose sense of distrust prevents them from believing politicians, government agencies, the justice system, the news media and their fellow Americans. He also speaks with social psychologists Dominic Packer and Jay Van Bavel, authors of the soon to be published book called “The Power of Us.” In it, they explore how the groups we belong to shape our identity and reality.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond. You also can listen to Us & Them on WVPB Radio — tune in on the fourth Thursday of every month at 8 p.m., with an encore presentation on the following Saturday at 3 p.m.