Finland is often described as a high-trust society, where trust in institutions and fellow citizens forms an important foundation for social cohesion. But is trust experienced equally by everyone? The newly published edited volume examines how trust, mistrust and distrust shape the experiences of migrants in Finland – and why trust is not always straightforward.
Trust has long been recognised as an essential part of well-functioning societies, facilitating cooperation, social relationships and the functioning of institutions. While trust has been extensively studied across disciplines, its role in migration and integration, particularly in Finland, has received considerably less attention.
The newly published edited volume Trust Dilemmas: Perspectives on Trust, Migration and Integration, edited by Magdalena Kmak, Eveliina Lyytinen and Liselott Sundbäck, addresses this research gap by examining how trust is formed, negotiated and sometimes lost in different contexts of migration and integration.
Finland as a laboratory for studying trust
Finland provides a particularly interesting setting for examining the complexities of trust. The country consistently ranks highly in international comparisons of social and institutional trust, while immigration has increased considerably in recent decades.
However, high levels of trust at the societal level do not necessarily reflect everyone’s experiences. Previous research has shown that migrants may initially have higher levels of trust in Finnish institutions than the general population, but experiences of discrimination and racism can gradually undermine this trust.
The volume therefore moves beyond measuring levels of trust to examine how trust develops and changes through interactions with institutions, legislation, information and other people.
Is trust always a good thing?
One of the volume’s central arguments is that trust should not automatically be understood as something positive. While trust can facilitate cooperation and belonging, it can also create vulnerabilities, particularly in situations characterised by unequal power relations.
For example, trust can play a role in enabling labour market exploitation, while distrust towards institutions may emerge from experiences of unfair treatment or exclusion.
Rather than simply asking how trust can be increased, the volume explores the circumstances in which trust and distrust emerge, and what they mean for the people involved.
Across ten research chapters, the contributors examine trust in three interconnected areas: law and the state, information and technology, and everyday encounters. The research draws on diverse qualitative materials, including interviews, observations, legal documents and historical sources.
Understanding how trust is built – and lost
The volume approaches trust as contextual, relational and dynamic. In other words, trust is shaped by the circumstances in which it emerges, the relationships between people and institutions, and experiences that accumulate over time.
The book approaches integration as a two-way process, emphasising that integration involves more than employment and language skills. Understanding how trust is built and maintained therefore requires attention not only to migrants’ experiences and actions, but also to the role of institutions, policies and the wider society.
By bringing together perspectives from several disciplines, Trust Dilemmas offers new insights into the role of trust in migration and integration in Finland. It highlights the importance of considering how legislation, institutional practices and everyday encounters influence people’s opportunities to develop and maintain trusting relationships.
Access the book
Trust Dilemmas: Perspectives on Trust, Migration and Integration is published by the Migration Institute of Finland and funded by the Strategic Research Council (SRC) established within the Research Council of Finland
(grant numbers: 364420, 364421 and 364422).
The book is available open access here: https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-7399-56-9
Mer information