Usaldus ühiskondlike institutsioonide vastu: dimensioonid ja mõjutegurid

Date

2010

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Tartu Ülikool

Abstract

Description

Contemporary societies are characterised as insecure and unpredictable. Due to that, society members’ ability to cooperate with each other and the persistance of democratic structure face many challenges. Trust facilitates social interactions in such a complex environment by acting as means of taming risks and countering uncertainties. It allows an institution (or an individual or a social role) to liberate itself from constant social monitoring and control and gain more freedom of action that is essential for original and innovative behaviour. Katrin Arvisto’s bachelors thesis „Institutional Trust: Dimensions and Influencing Factors“ deals with trust toward social institutions. It strives for a more detailed explanation of institutional trust and aims to identify whether the hypothesis about multidimensionality of institutional trust is relevant in Estonia. Research questions focus on the dimensionality of institutional trust and on factors that have in prior research been proven to influence people’s trust toward social institutions. Data used in this study was gathered during a nationwide representative survey in 2008, the dataset includes answers of 1507 respondents. To answer the first question posed in her study the author used the technique of exploratory factor analysis in order to detect the dimensionality of institutional trust. Research revealed that social institutions can be grouped into three distinct categories that are differentiated by different kind of expectations directed towards each group. The three dimensions of institutional trust are labeled by their dominant expectations as communicative, legitimacy-oriented and procedural. Although the question of what a person actually has in mind when evaluating his degree of trust towards specific social institution remains unanswered in current study, the three-dimensional nature of institutional trust provides new possibilities for interpretation of the phenomenon. Additionally the author tested relationships between institutional trust and two variables both representing the ways respondents perceive their social environment – attitudes towards recent changes in society and satisfaction with their personal economic situation. Results show that there are positive correlations between these 49 variables and those of institutional trust. The results aslo indicate that the better an individual feels about changes in society and the more pleased he is with his or his family’s economic situation the higher he evaluates trustworthiness of social institutions. Socio-demographical characteristics such as gender, age, education, and ethnicity were also tested. Keywords: trust, trust toward institutions, dimensions of institutional trust

Keywords

bakalaureusetööd, ühiskond, kodanikuühiskond, muutused, sotsiaalne kapital, usaldus, väärtusorientatsioon, institutsioonid, avalik sektor, riigiasutused, meedia

Citation