Abstract
The Scandinavian countries, well known for their high degree of mutual trust, have during recent years initiated so-called “trust reforms” in the public sector. In this chapter, I examine trust as an attitude, a norm, and a social practice and especially explore the relation between institutions and trust. My main argument is that the New Public Management (NPM) reforms have centralized power and reduced the autonomy of welfare professionals. A key theme is processes of emergence, reproduction, and fragmentation of trust in history.
