An Ethic of Social Flesh: Moving Beyond Care and/or Trust

Abstract

Trust and Care are contemporary languages commonly used to address a perceived crisis in the maintenance of community/interconnection and the political limits of competitive individualism. The crisis has been located at both the national and international levels. This paper traces some of the problems and possibilities associated with these languages. On trust, we look at Putnam, Fukuyama, Cox and Szreter, among others. In the case of care, we consider Gilligan, Levinas, Sevenhuijsen/Tronto and Hage. We conclude that the languages of trust and care are problematic and even dangerous in terms of political and policy directions. The paper advances an alternative strategy by which to reimagine social and political life.