Social Beliefs, Political Trust and Readiness to Participate in Political Actions: Comparison of Russia and Ukraine

Objectives. Analysis of the relationship between social beliefs, political trust and readiness to participate in normative and non-normative forms of political actions. Background. Amid growing politicization of citizens in different countries, the demand for an analysis of factors linked to the readiness of citizens to participate in various forms of political activity, from voting to street protests, is increasing. It is extremely important to identify universal and culturally specific factors that influence political behavior. Study design. The study examined the relationship between social beliefs, political trust, and readiness to participate in political activity. The presence and nature of the relationship was verified through correlation analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM). Participants. Russian sample: 440 people (76.4% of men, 23.4% of women) from 23 to 77 years old (M = 38.99; SD = 11.62). Ukrainian sample: 249 people (59.8% of men and 40.2% of women) from 23 to 65 years old (M = 35.55; SD = 10.76). Measurements. Russian-language versions of the scales of Belief in a dangerous world by J. Duckitt and Belief in a just world by C. Dalbert. Author’s scale of political trust and readiness to participate in political activity. Results. Belief in a just world increases political trust; belief in a dangerous world reduces it. Political trust positively predicts readiness to participate in various forms of normative political activity. The presence of cross-cultural differences in the characteristics of the model between the Russian and Ukrainian samples is established. Conclusions. There is a significant relationship between social beliefs, political trust and readiness to participate in various forms of political activity.