Trust as a crossroad: culture, development and corruption

Abstract

In recent years, social theory has focused on the search of explanations for the difficulties in socioeconomic development beyond the realms of Economy and Sociology.  Trust, the ‘spirit’ that animates societies, has become essential to understand the pathways to development and the convergence between Psychology, Economy and Culture.
In this text, I propose a definition of the concept useful for diverse Social Sciences, explore the implications to development and corruption, with a special emphasis on Ecuador, and suggest some guidelines for future research.