Social Integration, Consolidation, and Trust in the Risky Societies: Hitch-Hiking Case and it’s Heuristic Possibilities

Abstract

The article analyzes the phenomenon of trust in risky societies by the example of hitchhiking as a practice of free travel on non-scheduled transport. It is emphasized that trust is the fundamental component of the actualization of the hitchhiking as a sociocultural phenomenon and practice, alternative to other types of spatial mobility. The processes of the emergence and reproduction of interpersonal trust in risk societies are investigated. Attention is paid to the interdependence of personified trust and trust to social institutions. Theoretical approaches to the study of risk and trust, presented in the works of such researchers as U. Beck, A. Giddens, N. Luhmann, P. Bourdieu, are reviewed. The characteristic is given to the car as to the main tool for the implementation of hitchhiking practices. In the modern world, it has both practical and symbolic functions: spatial movement and maintaining of the social status of the individual. The historical experience of developing hitchhiking at the state level and the attempts of its institutionalization are analyzed. An example of two countries (USSR, FRG) strategies shows that such experience was quite successful. Attention is focused on hitchhiking coverage in the media, which forming a negative discourse about this phenomenon. The role of hitchhiking in the formation of interpersonal trust is considered. It is demonstrated that hitchhiking helps to build a positive image of the “other”, and also creates a situation in which trust becomes a core component of social relations. Without this component such relations are impossible. The conclusion is made that the process of institutionalization of the hitchhiking as a well-established sociocultural practice can contribute to the social consolidation of modern Ukrainian society.