Democracy Satisfaction: The Role of Interpersonal Trust

Abstract

This study assesses the extent to which people who exhibit "generalized and/or particularized trust" are likely to experience satisfaction with the way democracy works and examines the roles that different forms of trust play in people's satisfaction with democracy. Using American National Election Study 2000 data, logistics regression models were derived to ascertain which trust variables are important in explaining levels of satisfaction with democracy. Findings suggest that not all forms of trust predict satisfaction with democracy. While trust is important when it comes to democracy satisfaction, it is generalized trusters rather than particularized trusters that are more likely to be satisfied with democracy. It is concluded that participatory democracy is impeded in communities with individuals that exhibit strong particularized trust and limited generalized trust. It is argued that more effort should be devoted to building generalized trust among community members, and several policy implications for community development are presented.