The Profits of Distrust
Citizen-Consumers, Drinking Water, and the Crisis of Confidence in American Government

The choices people make about drinking water reveal deeper lessons about trust in government and civic life.

Manuel P. Teodoro (Author), Samantha Zuhlke (Author), David Switzer (Author)

9781009244855, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 25 August 2022

300 pages, 64 b/w illus. 46 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.49 kg

'Water is the stuff of life, but it's also the river that runs through every corner of politics. In this fascinating new book, Teodoro, Zuhlke, and Switzer explore the values that shape the big decisions about water, from the distribution of one of government's most important resources to the big puzzles of inequality that play themselves out in water policy. This is a great book about how politics affects water and how water affects politics.' Donald F. Kettl, Professor Emeritus and Former Dean, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland

The burgeoning bottled water industry presents a paradox: Why do people choose expensive, environmentally destructive bottled water, rather than cheaper, sustainable, and more rigorously regulated tap water? The Profits of Distrust links citizens' choices about the water they drink to civic life more broadly, marshalling a rich variety of data on public opinion, consumer behavior, political participation, geography, and water quality. Basic services are the bedrock of democratic legitimacy. Failing, inequitable basic services cause citizen-consumers to abandon government in favor of commercial competitors. This vicious cycle of distrust undermines democracy while commercial firms reap the profits of distrust – disproportionately so from the poor and racial/ethnic minority communities. But the vicious cycle can also be virtuous: excellent basic services build trust in government and foster greater engagement between citizens and the state. Rebuilding confidence in American democracy starts with literally rebuilding the basic infrastructure that sustains life.

1. Basic services and trust in government: the glorious, tragic legacy of America's water systems
2. The profits of distrust: a political theory of the citizen-consumer
3. (Dis)trust at the tap: experience and performative trust
4. Hyperopia and performative trust: how failure over there shapes behavior right here
5. Speaking up or opting out: moral trust, voice, and exit
6. Geographies of alienation: the institutional roots of distrust
7. When trust pays: the virtuous cycle of trust, participation, and service quality
8. Basic services and rebuilding legitimacy: the water-trust cycle, from virtuous to vicious and back again
The plan: better water for a more perfect union
Appendix A: survey methodology
Appendix B: kiosk data collection and validation
Appendix C: Statistics.

Subject Areas: Water industries [KNBW], Business & management [KJ], Political economy [KCP], Central government [JPQ], Political science & theory [JPA]