Trust in Institutions Between Objective and Subjective Determinants: A Multilevel Analysis in European Countries
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Trust in Institutions Between Objective and Subjective Determinants: A Multilevel Analysis in European Countries Isabella Mingo1 · Maria Paola Faggiano1 Accepted: 30 May 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Trust is an essential element for effective social cohesion and a correct expression of the principles of representative democracy. In many countries of the Western world, we are witnessing the advance of anti-establishment political movements and a steady decline of trust in institutions. Crisis, perception of crisis, climate of opinion around it have an impact on political attitudes and diversified feelings (interest, trust, resentment), on political participation and on voting. Social analysts are called to deepen the reasons for the variability of these phenomena according to socio-cultural contexts and individual characteristics. The main aim of this paper is to analyse: (1) if and how much the spread of trust in institutions is different among the EU citizens and (2) what are the determinants of trust, deepening the intensity and the direction of the relationships with subjective and objective indicators. Our purpose is to outline the differences among the EU countries regarding trust in national and international institutions, simultaneously considering macro (country) and micro (individual) level of analysis by using a multilevel approach. The empirical analysis is based on the data collected by European Social Survey (ESS-Round 8) in 2016 (microdata) and on some variables (macrodata) taken from other statistical sources (Eurostat, Transparency International). The sample of individuals counts about 37 thousand subjects. Data analysis includes the construction of synthetic indices, using appropriate synthesis methods, and the identification of the determinants of Trust in Institutions, considering both micro and macro level explanatory variables, resorting to Multilevel Regression. Keywords Trust in political institutions · Objective/subjective determinants · Political sophistication · Multilevel regression models
* Isabella Mingo [email protected] Maria Paola Faggiano [email protected] 1
Department of Communication and Social Research, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
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I. Mingo, M. P. Faggiano
1 Focusing on Trust Trust is a complex phenomenon that represents an essential element for effective social cohesion and a correct expression of the principles of representative democracy. We can define trust as an expectation about the object of trust (a person, an institution, etc.), considered able to produce positive outcomes (Levi and Stoker 2000). It is an attitude, it includes a more or less lasting view (about some object, event or person), but it is also a state of mind, a perspective which influences behaviors and dispositions to act or think in certain ways (Hosking 2014). Normally, trust is a response to good institutional performance, but it is also an essential condition for effective governance. It is the basis for compliance wi
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