Sociaal vertrouwen in de Europese context Een multiniveauanalyse met achttien landen

Abstract

This study investigates to what extent differences between European countries in the level of social trust may be explained by compositional and contextual factors. Hypotheses were derived with respect to socioeconomic success, social engagement, social distance and religiosity. A multi-level analysis performed on 24,203 respondents from 18 countries in the 2002 European Social Survey shows that people express more social trust if they are socioeconomically more successful, are active participants in social organizations, experience little social distance, and are religious. In addition, a society’s context shapes social trust; people living in countries with high levels of social engagement, with low levels of ethnic fragmentation and with a large percentage of religious people show more social trust.