Hitch Hiking: A Case Study of Risk and Trust

There has been very little research on hitch-hiking (‘autostop’ in continental Europe), which is surprising, since, we believe it is a topic with potentially fruitful connections to recent social theories concerned with risk and trust. There has been almost equally little policy-oriented research on the subject, although, as we argue, an understanding of the circumstances that make hitch-hiking possible could have implications for policies designed to control the growth of car use. This research explores hitch-hiking as a test case for social theories of risk, discusses the limited empirical evidence available on hitch-hiking and its apparent decline, and suggests ways in which the experience of hitch-hiking might come to inform policies to encourage car-sharing, and thus contribute to environmental and transport policy more generally.

Consider what is entailed by any successful act of hitch-hiking. The driver in accepting a stranger into his or her private space, and the hitch-hiker in entering this space with no certainty about the driver's motives and intentions, are establishing a relationship of 'active trust' and overcoming whatever anxiety they may feel about inhabiting 'a world of risky strangers' . The situation of hitch-hiking thus provides an ideal case for the examination of how far recent theories on risk and trust are relevant to people’s perceptions of an encounter in which, when it is successfully managed, willingness to trust outweighs any perception of risk. Given that civil society and democratic politics depend on trust, and that their positive development requires a sense of solidarity, a willingness to share and co-operate, and an active acceptance of difference, we may have something valuable to learn from those who are willing to take the risk of entering into a relationship in which the social divisions and boundaries of everyday life are suspended, and new possibilities are given a chance to emerge.

For more on this see: Chesters, G. & Smith, D.B. (2001) 'The Neglected Art of Hitch-hiking: Risk, Trust and Sustainability', Sociological Research Online, vol. 6, no. 3, http://www.socresonline.org.uk/6/3/chesters.html