Researchers
Abstract:
Issues of how much people trust each other, their political leaders and the basic system of government have recently risen high on the political agenda. The ‘trust issue’ dominated the 2005 General Election in the UK and much has been written in the media about the decline in traditional community ties and the detrimental effects this may have on our way of life.
But why is that we seem to trust each other and our leaders less these days? And, more importantly, does it really matter? Perhaps we are simply more critical and sceptical than we were in a previous, more deferential age. Having experienced a number of prominent governmental scandals and blunders in recent times – Suez, BSE and the ‘dodgy dossier’, to name but a few – and under the more watchful eye of a 24 hour mass media, some have argued that distrust is a wholly rational response.
Our programme of research aims to address these important issues by analysing a variety of large-scale surveys that have asked representative samples of the public questions about their trust in fellow citizens, political leaders and public institutions. In particular, we will focus on a survey of citizens throughout Europe to examine how different systems of government and economic conditions influence the degree of trust in a given society. We will also make use of surveys conducted over the past 20 years in Britain to provide a clearer picture of trends in expressed trust. We will aim to establish whether some groups in society have become more distrustful than others and explore the sorts of things that lead people to become more or less trusting over time, and the extent to which such changes are a reflection of inter-generational differences in basic values and political outlooks.
Our research programme will also be of benefit in highlighting the existence of these surveys – and useful ways of analysing them – to other researchers in the UK. The Government spends a large amount of public money conducting this kind of survey and it is essential that researchers in universities and elsewhere make as full use of them as possible.
Department:
Department of Sociology, University of Surrey
Duration:
1st Mar 2006 - 30th November 2008
Grant Type:
Large Research Grant
Publications
Research
findings
Sturgis, P., Read, S. and Allum, N. (under review) Does intelligence
foster interpersonal trust?: An empirical test using the UK Birth
Cohort Studies, Intelligence.
Sturgis, P., Patulny, R. and Allum, N. (under review) Re-evaluating
the individual level causes of trust: a panel data analysis, British
Journal of Sociology.
Allum, N., Patulny, R., Read, S. and Sturgis, P. (in press) Re-evaluating
the links between social trust, institutional trust and civic association
in Europe in Stillwell, J., Norman, P., Thomas, C. And Surridge, P.(eds)
Spatial and Social Disparities Understanding Population Trends and
Processes Volume 2, Springer, Dordrecht.
Sturgis, P. and Smith, P. (in press) Assessing the validity of generalized
trust questions: What kind of trust are we measuring? International
Journal of Public Opinion Research, forthcoming.
Sturgis, P., Read S., Hatemi, P., Zhu, G., Trull, T., Wright, M.,
Martin, N. (in press) A genetic basis for social trust? Political
Behavior, forthcoming.
Allum, N., Sturgis, P. and Read, S. (in press) Social and political
trust across time and culture, In Davidov, E., Billiet, J. and Schmidt,
P. (eds.) Methods for Cross-Cultural Analysis: Basic Strategies and
Applications, Taylor & Francis.
Sturgis, P., Brunton-Smith, I., Read S., Allum, N. (in press) Does
ethnic diversity erode trust?: Putnam’s ‘hunkering-down’
thesis reconsidered, British Journal of Political Science, forthcoming.
Allum, N. (2007) An empirical test of competing theories of hazard-related
trust: The case of GM Food, Risk Analysis, 27(4), 935-946.
Patulny, R. (2007) Review of the literature on the correlates of
social and political trust, Project Working Paper.
Presentations
Sturgis, P., Allum, N, and Patulny, R (2009) Social
and political trust: a longitudinal and comparative perspective,
Presentation at UPTAP workshop, Leeds, 23 March.
Sturgis, P. and Read, S. (2008) A genetic basis for social trust?,
Paper presented at Royal Statistical Society Seminar, London, 8 October.
Sturgis, P., Read, S. (2008) A genetic basis for trust? Using the
classic twin design to study the origin of individual differences
in trust, Paper presented at ISER Research Seminar, University of
Essex, Colchester, 6 October.
Sturgis, P. Read, S., Brunton-Smith, I. and Allum, N. (2008) Does
ethnic diversity erode trust? Re-evaluating Putnam’s ‘hunkering
down’ hypothesis. Paper presented at ISA-RC33 7th International
Conference, Naples, 3rd September
Allum, N. (2008) Citizens’ evaluations of biotechnology actors:
generalised or particularised trust?, Paper presented at ISA-RC33
7th International Conference, Naples, 3rd September.
Sturgis, P. and Read, S. (2008) A genetic basis for social trust?,
ISC Seminar, University of Manchester, Manchester, 30 September.
Bulloch, S. (2008) Gender and social trust: Exploring the moderating
effects of gender on predictors of social trust, Paper presented at
Research Committee 33 International Conference on Social Science Methodology,
Naples, September.
Sturgis, P. and Smith, P. (2008) AAPOR Who are ‘most people’
in the generalized trust question?, Paper presented at the Annual
Meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, New
Orleans, May 20-23.
Bulloch, S. (2008) Using structural equation modelling to re-examine
the association between gender and social trust: the search for measurement
equivalence, Paper presented at ESRC Research Methods Festival, Oxford,
July.
Bulloch, S. (2008) Gender and social trust in Europe: Comparing a
measurement model using indicators from the European Social Survey,
Paper presented at the International Conference on Survey Methods
in Multinational, Multiregional, and Multicultural Contexts, Berlin,
June.
Sturgis, P. and Smith, P. (2008) Generalized trust and its empirical
indicants: Who do we mean by ‘people’ in generalized trust
questions?, Paper presented at conference on composite scores, ESADE,
Barcelona, 14-15 February.
Sturgis, P., Read, S. and Allum, N. (2007) Childhood intelligence
as a predictor of trust in adulthood: An analysis of the 1958 and
1970 British Birth Cohort Studies, Paper presented at the International
Social Capital and Networks of Trust Congress, Jyväskylä,
Finland, 18-20 October.
Bulloch, S. (2007) Gender and interpersonal trust: Measurement equivalence
of indicators in the European Social Survey, Paper presented at the
European Survey Research Association conference, Prague, June.
Sturgis, P., Patulny, R. and Allum, N. (2007) Re-evaluating the individual
level causes of trust: a panel data analysis, Paper presented at the
European Survey Research Association conference, Prague, June.
Allum, N., Patulny R. and Sturgis, P. (2007) Investigating the links
between social trust, institutional trust and civic association, Paper
presented at the European Survey Research Association conference,
Prague, June.
Allum, N., Patulny, R. and Sturgis, P. (2007) Re-evaluating the links
between social trust, institutional trust and civic association, Paper
presented at the European Survey Research Association conference,
Prague, June.
Bulloch, S. (2007) Gender and interpersonal trust: Measurement equivalence
of indicators in the European Social Survey, Paper presented at the
European Survey Research Association conference, Prague, June.
Allum,
N. and Sturgis, P. (2007) Can we trust the general trust question?,
Paper presented at the American Association of Public Opinion Research,
Anaheim, California, May.
Sturgis, P. (2007) Structural equation models for panel data: An
investigation of the antecedents of inter-personal trust, Paper presented
at the Workshop on Structural Equation Modeling, University of Manchester,
28 February.
Sturgis, P., Patulny, R. and Allum, N. (2007) What makes trusters
trust?, Paper presented at the 'Reciprocity: Theories and Facts' conference,
Verbania, Italy, 22-25 February.
Sturgis,
P., Allum, N, and Patulny, R (2006) Social and political trust: a
longitudinal and comparative perspective, Presentation at UPTAP Inaugural
Conference, Leeds, 31 March.
