Interaction between circles of political trust and distrust as a source of social distance increase

The article proposes to consider the influence of the dynamics of political trust of various social groups on the social trust between them. Addressing this issue is associated with the need to clarify the factors of the stability of the political system in a contradictory and polarized symbolic space of public administration. The author assumes that groups of individuals, discursively united by the criteria of trust/distrust in the authorities, are prone to hostility towards each other, regardless of potential or actual social proximity (kinship, similarity of social or economic status, educational level). The increasing distance between the circles of political trust and distrust occurs for two reasons: internal and external. The internal reason lies in the difference in assessments of the effectiveness of political leadership. The difference ranges from minor differences to a complete denial of the position of the opposite side. The external reason is represented by the socio-political context of pressure on people and organizations united by an imaginary circle of political distrust. The instruments of legislative regulation restrict freedom of speech and expression. Thus, by intervening, the state achieves the tactical goals of preserving the stability of the political system, depriving society of the internal opportunity to achieve balance through dialogue. Such a way to resolve the impending split could become the basis for long-term social harmony. We can observe a lack of mutual understanding of political positions and acceptance of values between representatives of different circles of trust. With the continuing trends of informational and symbolic escalation around the differences between conditionally «trusting» and «not trusting», the risks of increasing social tension up to confrontation increase.