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Can Bureaucrats Break Trust? Testing Cultural and Institutional Theories of Trust with Chinese Panel Data

Fairbrother, Malcolm ; Mewes, Jan LU orcid ; Wilkes, Rima ; Wu, Cary and Giordano, Nick LU (2022) In Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World 8.
Abstract
What is the relationship between trust and the quality of political institutions in a society? According to an influential cultural perspective, social trust—the belief that most people can be trusted—is a value inculcated during individuals’ formative years, and remains fixed afterward. A second perspective holds that social trust reflects experiences throughout the life course, particularly interactions with public institutions and officials. The authors test these cultural and institutional theories using data from three waves of the China Family Panel Studies, assessing how political and social trust respond to treatment by public officials that respondents consider unfair. The authors find that such experiences, which they show in... (More)
What is the relationship between trust and the quality of political institutions in a society? According to an influential cultural perspective, social trust—the belief that most people can be trusted—is a value inculcated during individuals’ formative years, and remains fixed afterward. A second perspective holds that social trust reflects experiences throughout the life course, particularly interactions with public institutions and officials. The authors test these cultural and institutional theories using data from three waves of the China Family Panel Studies, assessing how political and social trust respond to treatment by public officials that respondents consider unfair. The authors find that such experiences, which they show in many cases likely meant being a victim of corruption, are associated with declines in trust. Yet the effects are short lived: within two years both types of trust revert to their original levels. These results therefore provide mixed support for both theories and suggest a reconciliation between them. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World
volume
8
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85138754533
ISSN
2378-0231
DOI
10.1177/23780231221126879
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
14f13365-c0bc-4cc0-998c-d8d2859bebbb
date added to LUP
2022-09-20 21:31:42
date last changed
2023-05-11 11:04:53
@article{14f13365-c0bc-4cc0-998c-d8d2859bebbb,
  abstract     = {{What is the relationship between trust and the quality of political institutions in a society? According to an influential cultural perspective, social trust—the belief that most people can be trusted—is a value inculcated during individuals’ formative years, and remains fixed afterward. A second perspective holds that social trust reflects experiences throughout the life course, particularly interactions with public institutions and officials. The authors test these cultural and institutional theories using data from three waves of the China Family Panel Studies, assessing how political and social trust respond to treatment by public officials that respondents consider unfair. The authors find that such experiences, which they show in many cases likely meant being a victim of corruption, are associated with declines in trust. Yet the effects are short lived: within two years both types of trust revert to their original levels. These results therefore provide mixed support for both theories and suggest a reconciliation between them.}},
  author       = {{Fairbrother, Malcolm and Mewes, Jan and Wilkes, Rima and Wu, Cary and Giordano, Nick}},
  issn         = {{2378-0231}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World}},
  title        = {{Can Bureaucrats Break Trust? Testing Cultural and Institutional Theories of Trust with Chinese Panel Data}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/23780231221126879}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/23780231221126879}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}