Abstract
Though widely criticized in recent years, the concept of political culture is useful in understanding the nature and sociopolitical impact of interpersonal trust. For trust — both in others of one’s own nationality, and toward other nationalities — seems to be an enduring characteristic of given cultures that can, partly, be traced to long-term societal learning. Trust is also strongly related to a given society’s level of economic development. Primordial ties, such as race, religion or geographic proximity, have surprisingly little impact on trust, when we control for the effects of economic development and shared historical experiences. Trust ratings of seventeen nationalities, made by ten Western publics, show a remarkable cross-cultural consensus that certain nationalities can be trusted more than others. The evidence suggests that economic development is conducive to trust — but that inter-personal trust may also be a prerequisite for economic and social modernization.
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© 1991 Karlheinz Reif and Ronald Inglehart
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Inglehart, R. (1991). Trust between Nations: Primordial Ties, Societal Learning and Economic Development. In: Reif, K., Inglehart, R. (eds) Eurobarometer. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21476-1_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21476-1_9
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