Recently, we have seen a shift in literature from the socialization-approach to an institutional perspective when trying to explain the origins of social capital. There is an increasing recognition that the welfare state plays an important role in social capital creation. More precisely, it is argued that the capacity of citizens to establish social trust and their preparedness to engage in cooperative behavior is highly dependent on the efficiency and trustworthiness of bureaucratic institutions. In most countries, citizens frequently interact with welfare-state institutions and government services, whether it is for childcare, social benefits or health care. These regular interactions have an important socialization function; they shape
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Data from the World Values Survey shows that over the past three decades levels of generalized trust have been exceptionally stable among the Swedish population. In 1981, the percentage of people that answered that “most people can be trusted” was 52.5 percent, while this rate increased to 60.1 percent in 2014. Like generalized trust, other institutional forms of trust are also consistently fairly high. In 2014, the population expressed to have “quite a lot” of confidence in the police (63.1 percent), the courts (56.9 percent) and the civil service (48.1 percent), amongst others. In contrast, people’s trust in political parties and such norm-setting institutions as the Cabinet and parliament are much lower. For instance, 45.8 percent of the Swedes said to have “not so much” trust in political parties, and 9.3 percent stated that they have “none at …show more content…
Generally, social capital is related to personal traits as well as contextual factors. More income, higher levels of education, participation in civil society, and greater satisfaction with life all have independent positive effects on interpersonal trust. Therefore, these variables need to be controlled for when analyzing the relation between universalism/selectivism and social capital, especially given that they themselves are highly dependent on a country’s level of welfare spending. In relation to income inequality, for instance, universal policies have been shown to have stronger redistributive effects than selective
Data from the World Values Survey shows that over the past three decades levels of generalized trust have been exceptionally stable among the Swedish population. In 1981, the percentage of people that answered that “most people can be trusted” was 52.5 percent, while this rate increased to 60.1 percent in 2014. Like generalized trust, other institutional forms of trust are also consistently fairly high. In 2014, the population expressed to have “quite a lot” of confidence in the police (63.1 percent), the courts (56.9 percent) and the civil service (48.1 percent), amongst others. In contrast, people’s trust in political parties and such norm-setting institutions as the Cabinet and parliament are much lower. For instance, 45.8 percent of the Swedes said to have “not so much” trust in political parties, and 9.3 percent stated that they have “none at …show more content…
Generally, social capital is related to personal traits as well as contextual factors. More income, higher levels of education, participation in civil society, and greater satisfaction with life all have independent positive effects on interpersonal trust. Therefore, these variables need to be controlled for when analyzing the relation between universalism/selectivism and social capital, especially given that they themselves are highly dependent on a country’s level of welfare spending. In relation to income inequality, for instance, universal policies have been shown to have stronger redistributive effects than selective