Re-evaluating the Links Between Social Trust, Institutional Trust and Civic Association

Abstract

The authors of this chapter examine data from the European Social Survey (ESS) and, using structural equation modelling techniques, develop measures for three elements of social capital; social trust, institutional trust and civic association. The analysis explores how these three elements are related after controlling for a range of social and psychological factors, including age, gender, income and personality type. The relationship between social trust and institutional trust is found to be resistant to controlling for sociodemographic variables and to controlling for life satisfaction.