Meanwhile, as mobility in society increases many people feel that their sense of community is under threat. More than a few feel the need to form new 'families' and 'neighbourhoods' - even with companies from whom they buy goods and services.

As consumers, we're no longer interested in just the traditional customer-supplier relationship - we want a sense of respectful familiarity, of shared destiny, and the kind of trust that produces a 'win-win' situation.

Any enterprise that wants to enlist public support will need to offer clear opportunities for this kind of connection.

If you're in corporate leadership or management, this is the time to make those personal calls to the individuals you've not spoken with for a long time (if at all). Now is the time to dismantle your reliance on customer relations management, which has turned personal interaction into a software-driven function rather than a human relationship.

It's not just connection with the provider that consumers want, though: they're seeking connection with each other. This is the time to create opportunities for people to be part of a community - and in particular a community that actively brings change.

This is the age of the 'wisdom of crowds', or what one writer has called 'the hive mentality'. It is expressed in the catchphrase of one of Europe's biggest telecoms providers: 'We're better, connected.'

The ongoing digital media revolution has ushered in an age of interconnectedness the like of which the world has never seen. Wikipedia is not just a cause, it is a community; and fast-growing web-based organizations like Kiva thrive because they allow people to connect while doing good.

This brings us to the third significant lesson from the Benenden study - and I touched on it at the beginning of this article.

Consumers no longer want to be consumers alone - they're looking for alliances through which they can become activists.

In this downturn, people are increasingly drawn to companies that allow them the opportunity to affect change in the wider world while having their own needs met. People want to feel that they're directly or indirectly making a difference to the lives of others and the health of the community as a whole.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an often belittled term in corporate circles; it's certainly one that has many definitions. I like the one offered by Mallen Baker of the UK's Business in the Community group: CSR is about 'how companies manage the business processes to product an overall positive impact on society.'

This kind of social responsibility, even social welfare, is going to become increasingly important for companies and organizations that want to emerge from the downturn with renewed public trust.

One thing has become abundantly clear in this recession: when material security declines, moral altruism goes through the roof.

When people feel they can no longer define themselves according to their income, job status or mortgage - these things become very shaky in a recession - they start to look for other ways to declare their values and their place in the world.