Trust and Deception in (Post-)Soviet Uzbekistan

Abstract

The breakdown of the Soviet Union together with the dissolution of the socialist order was experienced as painful severance from life people in Uzbekistan had been intimately familiar with. The emotional response aroused by Uzbek independence becomes apparent in oral accounts of trust and deception. The older generation tends to view the past as having been time of mutual trust, while acts of hostility and deception are seen as characteristic of the post-Soviet social condition. Younger people are, in comparison, more temperate in their evaluation of the current social environment. Nevertheless, there seems to be some agreement that one must still exercise caution in interactions with others if trouble is to be avoided. suggest that such an outlook may also be indicative of an uncertainty with regard to appropriate agency among Uzbeks both young and old.