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Certain issues of reliability and validity in the case of generalized trust survey measurement in light of the Hungarian data
5-22Views:217Trust is a field of research in social sciences that has complex, well-developed theoretical
approaches, but its empirical tools are less precisely grounded. The most common survey tool
for measuring generalized trust is a formula often referred to in the literature as “standard”
trust question, which reads as follows: “Generally speaking, would you say that most people can
be trusted or that you need to be very careful in dealing with people?” The aim of the paper is to
examine this standard survey item along the dimensions of reliability and validity. In our analysis,
we use Hungarian data obtained from various international surveys. Our results indicate serious
validity problems, as the standard question shows only weak linkage with additional variables,
which, based on the conceptual background, should be in a close relationship with trust.
KEYWORDS: trust, generalized trust, survey methods, reliability, validity -
Reframing of Particular Trust
5-27Views:155The paper strives to reconsider the theory of particular trust, i.e. one’s trusting feelings towards her/his most intimate relatives, friends, and personal relations. By doing this, at first, the paper sheds light on two distinct interpretations of particular trust in the literature. One of these approaches addresses particular trust as a kind of core disposition of the self, and it describes how one’s trust towards her/his bonding relations establishes the given subject’s generalized trust towards others, in a broad sense, to people as such. The other interpretation argues that particular trust is important for group-level social dynamics. It claims that if members of close-knit and exclusive groups, dominated by particular trust, are interacting only with each other, and avoiding out-group relations, then broader social cooperation and collaboration are constrained, social integration and cohesion are limited, and on macro level there is an unfolding distrust. As it seems, the above-described readings of particular trust are contradictory. The current paper stresses that just one of these interpretations is coherent and consistent – the first one.
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Social capital in Sweden and Hungary: Comparative analysis along the dimensions of trust, values and interpersonal relationships
5-28Views:215This paper examines and compares the Swedish and Hungarian society along three dimensions: interpersonal (generalized) trust, interpersonal relationships, and values of cooperation. These are all crucial components of social capital, could be seen as its most relevant domains, which, in a macro perspective, express the cohesion and integration of a given society. Thus, the above-mentioned indicators provide deep insight into the social fabrics and dynamics of Sweden and Hungary, as well as the potential changes. The empirical analysis is based on data obtained from waves 1–10 of the European Social Survey (ESS). The relevance of the analysis is due to the specific representation of Sweden in the Hungarian political discourse and in some parts of the media. According to this framing integration and cohesion of the Swedish society is in an increasingly poor state, whereas in Hungary things are going much better. Our paper aims to shed light on this issue along the dimensions presented above. Our results show that, in terms of the dimensions of social capital examined, Swedish society is not in a bad state at all, and in fact presents a significantly more favourable picture than Hungarian society on the basis of the same indicators.
