Moral opinion polarization and the erosion of trust

Carolin Rapp

doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.02.008

Moral opinion polarization and the erosion of trust

Carolin Rapp^*

^*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

12 Citationer (Scopus)

Abstract

Since Puntam's seminal work on declining levels of social capital, the question of how social trust is formed has reached unprecedented heights of critical enquiry. While most of the current research concentrates on ethnic diversity and income inequality as the main influences driving down generalized trust, we focus on opinion polarization as another potential impact factor on trust. In more detail, we investigate the extent to which polarization over morally charged issues such as homsexuality, abortion and euthanasia affects individuals' likelihood to trust others. We hypothesize that moral issues have a natural tendency to divide societies' opinions into opposing poles and, thus, to challenge social cohesion in modern civil societies. Based on hierarchical analyses of the fifth wave of the World Values Survey (WVS) - comprising a sample of 39 countries - our results reveal that individuals living in countries characterized by more opinion polarization tend to have less trust in other people.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Tidsskrift	Social Science Research
Vol/bind	58
Sider (fra-til)	34-45
Antal sider	12
ISSN	0049-089X
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.02.008
Status	Udgivet - 1 jul. 2016

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title = "Moral opinion polarization and the erosion of trust",

abstract = "Since Puntam's seminal work on declining levels of social capital, the question of how social trust is formed has reached unprecedented heights of critical enquiry. While most of the current research concentrates on ethnic diversity and income inequality as the main influences driving down generalized trust, we focus on opinion polarization as another potential impact factor on trust. In more detail, we investigate the extent to which polarization over morally charged issues such as homsexuality, abortion and euthanasia affects individuals' likelihood to trust others. We hypothesize that moral issues have a natural tendency to divide societies' opinions into opposing poles and, thus, to challenge social cohesion in modern civil societies. Based on hierarchical analyses of the fifth wave of the World Values Survey (WVS) - comprising a sample of 39 countries - our results reveal that individuals living in countries characterized by more opinion polarization tend to have less trust in other people.",

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AB - Since Puntam's seminal work on declining levels of social capital, the question of how social trust is formed has reached unprecedented heights of critical enquiry. While most of the current research concentrates on ethnic diversity and income inequality as the main influences driving down generalized trust, we focus on opinion polarization as another potential impact factor on trust. In more detail, we investigate the extent to which polarization over morally charged issues such as homsexuality, abortion and euthanasia affects individuals' likelihood to trust others. We hypothesize that moral issues have a natural tendency to divide societies' opinions into opposing poles and, thus, to challenge social cohesion in modern civil societies. Based on hierarchical analyses of the fifth wave of the World Values Survey (WVS) - comprising a sample of 39 countries - our results reveal that individuals living in countries characterized by more opinion polarization tend to have less trust in other people.

KW - Moral politics

KW - Opinion polarization

KW - Social trust

KW - World Values Survey

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DO - 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.02.008

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84959872457

SN - 0049-089X

VL - 58

SP - 34

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JO - Social Science Research

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Moral opinion polarization and the erosion of trust

Abstract

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