Policy Brief
Corruption and Inequality as Correlates of Social Trust: Fairness Matters More Than Similarity
by Professor Jong-Sung You
Brief prepared by Joyce Lawrence, MPIA 2008
Click here to access this as a PDF.
Social trust, the generalized belief that other people in a society are trustworthy, varies to a great degree in the world. Only three percent of Brazilians agreed with the statement “most people can be trusted,” while 65 percent of people in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway did. In Corruption and Inequality as Correlates of Social Trust, You explores what type of political and social institutions are related to higher levels of social trust.
Using data from the World Values Surveys, You shows that higher social trust comes with a sense of fairness in society rather than simply from similarities in race, ethnicity, and income. Fairness includes fair procedural rules, as in democracy, as well as fair administration of the rules, meaning freedom from corruption. For example, as the rule of law becomes stronger and the likelihood of punishment for corruption increases, public officials have a stronger incentive not to cheat. Individuals witness fair behavior and develop a norm of trust. Fair income distribution is also correlated with trust. It is not simply differences in income that reduce trust, but rather how unfair the distribution is – lots of people at the low end of the distribution will increase similarity, but not necessarily fairness. Institutional arrangements work together with values, norms, and perceptions to either contribute to social trust or reduce it.
These findings refute the widely held belief that social trust is based on homogeneity in society. Since social trust is seen as necessary to support the welfare state, many experts were worried that cultural diversity could undermine social welfare objectives. The importance of fairness, demonstrated in this paper, supports the view that diversity is not necessarily an obstacle to the welfare state. Governments can influence social trust through fair procedural rules that are implemented fairly and through a fair distribution of income.
