Trusting the State, Trusting Each Other? The Effect of Institutional Trust on Social Trust

Kim Mannemar Sønderskov,Peter Thisted Dinesen

doi:10.1007/s11109-015-9322-8

Kim Mannemar Sønderskov, Peter Thisted Dinesen

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-015-9322-8

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Journal: Political Behavior	Publication Date: Oct 27, 2015
Citations: 175	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University

Abstract

Trust in state institutions is a prominent explanation of social trust. However, previous—mainly cross-sectional—analyses provide limited causal evidence regarding the relationship between institutional trust and social trust and it is thus essentially unknown whether an observed relationship reflects reverse causality (social trust forming institutional trust), or both forms of trust reflecting deep-seated dispositions (common confounding). Against the backdrop of the shortcomings of previous cross-sectional analyses, this paper utilizes two Danish panel surveys containing measures of both types of trust for the same individuals surveyed at multiple points in time over a long time-span (up to 18 years) to address the potentially reverse and/or spurious relationship. Using individual fixed effects and cross-lagged panel models, the results provide strong evidence of trust in state institutions exercising a causal impact on social trust, whereas the evidence for a reverse relationship is limited.

Highlights

Social trust concerns the trustworthiness of the abstract, generalized other about whom little information exists (Robinson and Jackson 2001)
The aim of this paper has been to examine whether the well documented association between institutional and social trust reported in previous cross-sectional studies can plausibly be given a causal interpretation; that institutional trust influences social trust
Employing cross-lagged models to assess the direction of causality and fixed effects models to rule out confounding by plausible, but hard-to-observe, timeinvariant confounding factors, we find strong evidence of institutional trust influencing social trust

Summary

Introduction

Social trust concerns the trustworthiness of the abstract, generalized other about whom little information exists (Robinson and Jackson 2001). Using individual fixed effects and cross-lagged panel models, the results provide strong evidence of trust in state institutions exercising a causal impact on social trust, whereas the evidence for a reverse relationship is limited.

Results

Conclusion