1. Patrick Sturgis, Nick Allum Roger Patulny & Sarah Bulloch
SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
Department of Sociology University of Surrey Social and Political Trust Project (SAPT)
Patrick Sturgis, Nick Allum
Roger Patulny & Sarah Bulloch

2. Is trust a salient concept for the times?
SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
Is trust a salient concept for the times?
‘A society that relies on generalised reciprocity is more efficient than a distrustful society, for the same reason that money is more efficient than barter. Trust lubricates social life.’ (Putnam, 1993 p3).

3. Trust in people and trust in government are strongly implicated in:
SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
Trust in people and trust in government are strongly implicated in:
Social concerns - multiculturalism and social cohesion
Political concerns – functioning of government and political participation (voting)
(For sociologists) Theoretical concerns – ideas about human action, rational versus normative

4. Social and Political Trust
Social Trust: trust between people in society – horizontal.
Political Trust: between citizens and institutions such as government, or individuals such as politicians – vertical.

5. Particularised and Generalised Trust
SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
Particularised and Generalised Trust
Particularised trust: trust in a known other – identifiable individuals or groups.
Generalised trust: trust in an unknown other – in society. This is the good stuff.

6. SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
Trust has been made popular by the political and sociological study of Social Capital (Putnam, Coleman),
and recently by Uslaner – particularised vs generalised social trust.
Trust also has roots in the economic study of game theory and the Prisoner’s Dilemma (Nash, Axelrod, Dasgupta, Glaesar) –
Economic description more in common with particularised trust and is information dependent

7. Trust has been linked statistically to many positive outcomes:
SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
Trust has been linked statistically to many positive outcomes:
Economic – growth (Knack and Keefer)
Democratic – social capital, (Putnam), corruption (Rothstein and Uslaner)
Health – heart disease (Kawachi)
Emotional wellbeing – Happiness, Satisfaction (Veenhoeven, Helliwell)
Crime – neighbourhoods, delinquency (Sampson, Halpern)
Education – individually (Putnam), neighbourhoods (La Porta)
But does trust cause these things, or do these things cause trust? And what then, if trust is declining?

8. So, trust is a salient concept
SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
So, trust is a salient concept
BUT: Have we succeeded in appropriately measuring trust, its trends and its causes? These are the big issues.
Issue 1 – Trends – Is trust increasing or falling in the UK and other nations?
Problems with data used and question issues
Issue 2 (The big one) – Causality: What causes a person to start and stop trusting? –
Problems with data (mostly cross-sectional).

9. Social trust varies substantially across countries (ESS):
SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
Social trust varies substantially across countries (ESS):

10. Research on Gender and Social Trust
SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
Research on Gender and Social Trust
Conspicuous in its absence.
Patchy, sidelined.
Multiple, contradictory stories.
What is the complete picture?

11. How do we measure trust? GTQ – Generalised Trust question:
SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
How do we measure trust?
GTQ – Generalised Trust question:
‘Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you can't be too careful in dealing with people?’
Exists in 2 forms: dichotomous and 11-point scale.

12. Measurement of trust II
SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
Measurement of trust II
The Rosenberg trust scale
GTQ plus:
Do you think that most people would try to take advantage of you if they got a chance or would they try to be fair?
Would you say that most of the time people try to be helpful or are they mostly looking out for themselves?

13. Denmark 6.8 6.7 6.9 -0.2 1.82 0.07 Norway 6.6 0.1 -0.63 0.53 Finland
Gender-trust gap across Europe: GTQ
Country
Male
Female
Gender-trust gap* t
Sig (2-tailed)
Denmark
6.8
6.7
6.9
-0.2
1.82
0.07
Norway
6.6
0.1
-0.63
0.53
Finland
6.5
-0.1
0.95
0.34
Iceland
6.4
6.2
0.3
-1.41
0.16
Sweden
6.1
6.0
-0.96
Ireland
5.9
5.7
-3.46
0.00
Netherlands
5.8
0.2
-2.24
0.03
Switzerland
-1.06
0.29
Estonia
5.2
5.1
0.92
0.36
United Kingdom
-1.48
0.14
Austria
-0.89
0.37
Luxembourg
5.0
4.8
0.4
-2.92
Spain
4.9
-1.82
Belgium
4.6
-2.73
0.01
Germany
4.7
-1.71
0.09
France
4.5
0.0
0.42
0.67
Ukraine
4.3
4.2
4.4
1.55
0.12
Czech Republic
4.1
1.25
0.21
Slovenia
4.0
-2.86
Slovakia
-0.43
Hungary
-0.29
0.77
Greece
3.9
-1.24
0.22
Portugal
3.8
-2.60
Poland
3.6
-0.23
0.82
*(male trust - female trust)

14. Gender-trust gap across Europe: Rosenberg scale
Country
Male
Female
Gender-trust gap t
sig
Denmark
20.1
19.5
20.7
-1.23
4.8
0.00
Norway
19.3
19.9
-0.62*
3.0
Iceland
-0.03*
0.1
0.94
Finland
19.1
18.7
19.4
-0.75
3.9
Sweden
18.5
18.2
-0.50*
2.2
0.03
Ireland
18.4
18.1
0.30
-1.3
0.19
Switzerland
17.6
17.5
17.7
-0.18*
0.9
0.37
Netherlands
17.4
0.10
-0.5
0.64
United Kingdom
16.4
16.5
16.3
0.23
-1.0
0.32
Austria
16.2
15.9
-0.44*
1.8
0.07
Luxembourg
15.5
15.7
15.2
0.50
-1.8
0.08
Estonia
15.4
14.9
-0.74
3.1
Germany
15.3
15.1
-0.32*
1.6
0.11
Belgium
14.8
14.6
0.47
-1.9
0.05
France
14.7
-0.32
1.3
0.18
Spain
14.3
14.5
14.1
0.34
0.20
Czech Republic
13.4
13.3
13.5
-0.22
1.0
Slovenia
13.1
0.38
-1.2
Ukraine
12.9
12.2
13.2
-1.00
3.4
Hungary
12.6
12.4
12.8
1.1
0.26
Portugal
0.53
-2.4
0.02
Slovakia
12.3
-0.12*
0.4
0.67
Poland
11.4
11.2
11.7
-0.48
Greece
10.9
11.0
10.8
0.17
-0.7
0.49

15. Gender-fair gap across Europe
Country
Male
Female
Gender-fair gap* t
Sig.
Denmark
7.3
7.0
7.6
-0.6
6.12
0.00
Iceland
6.9
6.8
-0.1
0.83
0.41
Norway
6.7
7.1
-0.4
4.37
Finland
6.6
5.10
Sweden
6.5
6.4
-0.3
2.97
Switzerland
0.91
0.36
Netherlands
6.2
0.0
0.39
0.69
Ireland
6.1
6.0
-0.30
0.76
Austria
5.8
5.6
3.33
Germany
5.7
-0.2
2.00
0.05
Luxembourg
0.1
-1.15
0.25
Belgium
0.07
0.95
France
0.82
United Kingdom
5.5
-0.52
0.60
Estonia
5.4
5.2
3.18
Spain
-0.48
0.63
Czech Republic
5.1
1.25
0.21
Portugal
4.8
4.9
-1.48
0.14
Slovenia
4.7
0.51
0.61
Ukraine
4.5
3.77
Hungary
4.6
0.24
0.81
Poland
4.4
2.62
0.01
Slovakia
0.49
Greece
3.7
3.8
-0.24

16. Gender-help gap across Europe
Country
Male
Female
Gender-help gap* t
Sig.
Ireland
6.3
6.2
-0.1
0.91
0.36
Iceland
6.1
-0.2
1.17
0.24
Denmark
6.0
5.8
-0.4
3.53
0.00
Norway
-0.3
3.18
Sweden
5.9
3.40
Finland
5.7
5.6
3.16
United Kingdom
0.0
-0.26
0.79
Switzerland
5.5
5.4
2.19
0.03
Netherlands
5.3
0.94
0.35
Austria
5.2
5.1
1.88
0.06
Luxembourg
4.8
4.7
0.45
0.65
Germany
4.6
4.9
3.69
Estonia
4.5
3.41
France
2.05
0.04
Belgium
4.4
0.1
-1.42
0.16
Slovenia
4.3
-0.72
0.47
Spain
4.2
4.1
-0.97
0.33
Czech Republic
0.98
Hungary
4.0
3.9
2.65
0.01
Portugal
3.8
-1.56
0.12
Ukraine
3.6
3.20
Slovakia
3.7
0.56
0.58
Greece
3.3
3.2
-0.49
0.63
Poland
3.1
1.56

17. SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
Recap
Overall, more countries in which there is no significant gender-trust gap…BUT
GTQ- indicates male-oriented gender-trust gaps in Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Slovenia and Portugal.

18. Why? Female trust ‘top-up’ comes from the help and fair questions.
SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
Recap contd
Rosenberg trust scale – indicates male-oriented gender-trust gap in only Belgium and Portugal. Female-oriented gender-trust gap in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and the Ukraine
Why? Female trust ‘top-up’ comes from the help and fair questions.

19. Conclusions Measurement matters in relation to gender. Which to use?
SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
Conclusions
Measurement matters in relation to gender. Which to use?
NEXT:
SEM multi-group model to explore Rosenberg trust indicators in relation to gender in different countries.
Move onto individual level, and perhaps multi-level analysis.
Time series data?

20. SOCIAL AND
POLITICAL TRUST
Thank you