Between Sicilia and Lombardy: Relation between trust, civil norms and social participation among citizens of Serbia

Abstract

The one of the key precondition of social and political participation of citizens is their interpersonal and institutional trust. In order to avoid the increase of individual atomization and/or excessively rise of informal support networks, institutional organizations are crucial. For that reason, it is necessary to exist certain level of trust in institutional arrangements. This paper will be focused on widely used concept of social capital for analysis of interaction between trust, social norms and participation. Concerning participation, in this paper the difference between ?generalized? trust in public institutions and ?specific?, personalized trust in people is explained. This situation of low trust in people and institutions which are interlinked and create general atmosphere of distrust is present in post-socialist societies, such as Serbia. Firstly, the aim of this paper is to show level of participation in different organizations and the trust of citizens of Serbia in political institutions, as well as trust in people in general. Additionally, the acceptance of civil norms will be presented. Secondly, it will be analyzed in what extant formal organizations contribute to the trust creation and the acceptance of social norms as forms of universal values which are necessary for basic social consensus and solidarity. Also, it will be presented the relation between trust in certain institutions and organizations and the acceptance of civil norms. In order to achieve these goals, it will be used quantitative analysis and databases World Values Survey, fifth wave conducted from 2005 to 2007.