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Museums enjoy the highest level of trust in Germany. This is the conclusion of a study by the Institute for Museum Research. According to the study, museums in particular have the potential to strengthen society's sense of belonging and promote trust in cultural institutions as a whole. The aim of the population-representative study, which the Institute of Museum Research conducted in December 2023 based on a US study and has now published, was to shed light on this hidden social capital in the current debate and to empirically substantiate the socio-political dimension of museum work.

The most important findings include the fact that museums enjoy the highest level of trust in the personal and institutional environment after family and friends and before scientists and the media. They achieve the highest trust ratings of all public institutions and thus clearly stand out from political organisations, for which trust ratings were also collected. Trust in museums is fuelled by the perception of neutrality. People who perceive museums as neutral and impartial trust them much more than those who do not recognise this neutrality.

Museums enjoy abstract trust even among "never-visitors" in the form of an advance of trust. At the same time, trust increases with the number of actual visits. The higher the frequency of visits, the higher the trust values indicated. This clear correlation cannot be established for any of the other social items. Apparently, there is room for manoeuvre here in which museums can generate social capital through good performance.

For the President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Hermann Parzinger, one thing is certain: "This study will change the way we look at museums: In an age of increasing polarisation and pressing social issues, the museum is one of the places that offers reliability. But this trust also brings with it responsibility: museums can and should take a stand - but in the knowledge that it is precisely their perception as neutral authorities that forms the basis for this trust. Cultural institutions can strengthen the power of judgement in our society. This is precisely what is important in these times. We have many opportunities to impart knowledge and should also do so in an enlightening sense."

The Director of the Institute for Museum Research, Patricia Rahemipour, comments: "Countless studies on public trust in democratic institutions, the media and science are currently dominating the headlines, reminding us in these crisis-ridden times how important social and institutional trust is for the preservation and continued existence of our democracy. It is therefore all the more astonishing that trust in museums, as the oldest and most enduring cultural institutions in our society, has never before been the subject of a broad-based study. We want to close this gap with our study."

Her co-author Kathrin Grotz, Deputy Director of the IfM, adds: "When analysing the data, we were primarily concerned with the performance of museums in comparison to other political, cultural and economic actors that constitute the social capital of our society. This categorisation is important in order to determine the relevance and future role of museums for social cohesion and to sound out what hidden capital can still be raised here."

The study "Hidden Capital: Trust in Museums in Germany" also provides data on the frequency of visits to museums in Germany for the first time since 2013. 5.3 per cent of respondents do not visit museums at all. The proportion of those who have visited a museum at least once a quarter in the past year is only slightly higher at 6.0 per cent. A good third (35.1%) have visited a museum at least once in the last twelve months, and for just under half (47.7%) this was more than a year ago.

Grotz, K., & Rahemipour, P. (2024). The hidden capital: Trust in museums in Germany. How people in Germany view a cultural institution in transition. A population-representative study by the Institute for Museum Research - Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Berlin. Zenodo. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10965937

Download the complete study:https://www.smb.museum/museen-einrichtungen/institut-fuer-museumsforschung/forschung/forschungsprojekte/das-verborgene-kapital/

Further enquiries can be addressed to: Institute for Museum Research, In der Halde 1, 14195 Berlin, Tel. 030/266 4269 01; Mail: ifm@smb.spk-berlin.de.