How does political trust affect social trust? An analysis of survey data from rural China using an instrumental variables approach

Abstract

Using an instrumental variable approach, we analyze survey data to untangle the relationship between social and political trust in contemporary China. We find strong evidence that political trust enhances social trust in China and the results are robust to a range of measures, including the generalized social trust question, as well as three contextualized trust questions. We also shed light on the impact of economic modernization on social trust. Our findings contribute to the general literature on trust and provide a better understanding of the complicated relationship between political trust and social trust. They also offer insight into the dynamics of trust production and reproduction in China and thus into China's socio-political development.

Government Trust, Social Trust, and Citizens’ Risk Concerns: Evidence from Crisis Management in China

“…The item used to gauge social trust was designed to mitigate social desirability bias, which may arise if more conventional survey questions such as "Do you trust strangers?" are used (Tao et al, 2014).…”

“…Social trust in the urban society of contemporary China has been substantially undermined (Tao et al, 2014), and endeavors to rebuild social trust may encounter difficulties in mitigating public risk perceptions.…”

Perceived Quality of Governance and Trust in Government in Rural China: A Comparison Between Villagers and Officials

“…Trust in government, also referred to as confidence in government or political trust (Anderson, 2010), is a key component of public administration (Cooper, Knotts, and Brennan, 2008;Hetherington, 1998). High degrees of trust in government were found to promote democratic values (Newton, 2001) and general trust within society (Steinhardt, 2012;Tao et al, 2014). In contrast to the continued decline of trust in government among Western democracies (Catterberg and Moreno, 2006;Norris, 2011), China has been enjoying a high level of trust in and support for government, even decades after the initial economic opening up in the late 1970s (Chen, 2004;Gilley, 2006).…”

Relationships of Horizontalism and Hierarchy: Exploring Divergent Forms of Sociopolitical Trust

“…Here, the statistical association for political predicting social trust is wholly positive, within samples focused on both the United States (Keele, 2007; Irwin and Berigan, 2013) and elsewhere (Freitag and Bühlmann, 2009; Robbins, 2011; Rothstein and Stolle, 2008). The effect is consistent, whether measured as confidence in police (Freitag and Bühlmann, 2009; Robbins, 2011), local and national government (Tao et al., 2014; Irwin and Berigan, 2013), or multiple institutions together (Rothstein and Stolle, 2008).…”