Moral opinion polarization and the erosion of trust |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA;2. Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Public Health Research Institute, Rutgers State University, 225 Warren Street, Newark, NJ 07103, USA;3. Department of Radiology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA;4. Department of Physiology and Biophyiscs, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA;5. The Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA;1. Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, 11100 Euclid Av., Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA;2. Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine, Dept. of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, 11100 Euclid Av., Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA;3. Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, 11100 Euclid Av., Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA;1. Department of Politics and Philosophy, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive, MS 3165, Moscow, ID 83844-3165, USA;2. School of Public and International Affairs, University of Georgia, USA;1. Institute of Sociology, University of Warsaw, ul. Karowa 18, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland;2. Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, University of Latvia, Latvia |
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| 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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| Keywords: | Opinion polarization Moral politics Social trust World Values Survey |
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