Suchergebnisse

Cultural warfare and trust: fighting the Mafia in Palermo concentrates on a central issue in research on democratic processes: the development of generalised trust. The existence of generalised trust and confidence in a society is decisive for economic development and an effective democracy. Is it possible to fight persistent values of distrust and non-cooperation? Is it possible to support the development of generalised trust through public action and education?The book addresses these questions by examining political efforts to combat Palermo?s Mafia-controlled heritage and to turn a traditi

This article analyses the validity of the standard question, 'Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted, or that you can't be too careful in dealing with people?'. It builds on unique material, including survey responses ( N = 356) and letters ( N = 28) from students aged 18–19 years, collected by the author in seven secondary schools in Stockholm. The results suggest that the standard question is less valid as a measure on generalized trust than is commonly assumed in trust research. Rather than referring to trust in people in general, about a third of the responses expressed themes related to rational trust, that is, trust is domain-specific and person-specific. Systematic variation between different school contexts indicates that the standard question reflects social trust in a limited social sphere rather than trust in 'most people'. The conclusion is that the standard trust question has a problem with validity among young respondents.

How do you turn a tradition of non-cooperation to cooperation? How do you create cooperation in an environment with no tradition of cooperation? The solution to the so-called collaborative problem has been awarded the Nobel Prize, and engaged researchers for over thirty years. While some communities were permeated by widespread distrust, high corruption, distrust of government non-cooperation, the second were characterized by high trust, missed classes by corruption, high tolerance and the spirit of cooperation. While knowledge is high on the characteristics of the two balanced positions, it is the former studies on mechanisms that are in motion when people leave a state of non-cooperation to cooperation. Adapted from the source document.

In a comparative perspective, Sweden is a society with high social trust, corruption, law and high political trust. Research shows that the presence of social trust in society is crucial for economic growth, corruption, law and functioning democratic institutions. A society with high levels of trust leads to positive effects of increased security, more economic equality, more tolerance, better health and increased ability to solve social problems of various kinds. Adapted from the source document.