Premium
Relationships of Horizontalism and Hierarchy: Exploring Divergent Forms of Sociopolitical Trust
Author(s) -
Williams Dana M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/ssqu.12784
Subject(s) - social trust , politics , conceptualization , blind trust , biology and political orientation , typology , power (physics) , social psychology , sociology , voting , hierarchy , public trust , political science , public relations , psychology , social science , social capital , law , physics , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , computer science , anthropology
Objective Propose a conceptualization of trust that acknowledges varying levels of power between trusting partners. The weak, positive statistical correlation between social and political trust conceals very different experiences of trust. While many people possess either high or low levels of both forms of trust, others have divergent levels of the two forms of trust. Present a simple typology of sociopolitical trust that categorizes individuals as trusters, distrusters, hierarchicalists, and horizontalists. Methods Exploratory analysis of United States using the World Values Survey. Multivariate analysis of sociopolitical trust's effect upon protest and voting. Results Americans have low levels of political trust and higher levels of social trust. Protesters possess social trust and political dis trust, and voters are both social and political trusters. Conclusion The combination of social trust and political trust impacts public participation preferences. Protesters embody a libertarian‐socialist orientation toward sociopolitical trust, while voters possess a social‐democrat orientation.