Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 93 No. 1, 2023.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.53745/bs.93.1.7
The Issue of Trust in a »Low Trust« Society: an Example of Young People from the Vukovar-Srijem County
Mateo Žanić
; The Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar – Regional Center Vukovar, Vukovar, Croatia
Geran-Marko Miletić
; The Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The issue of trust in people and institutions is of great importance in contemporary social sciences, and numerous empirical studies have provided many significant insights in this regard and have allowed for the comparison of different societies. Nevertheless, we are still attempting to ascertain to what extent trust actually effects various aspects of social life and whether trust is a more relevant factor for some social groups than for others. This paper examines whether young people associate trust in people and institutions with social norms of respect, helping others, and premigration aspirations. We have analysed these factors based on the results of an empirical study conducted at the end of 2021 with third and fourth grade students of high schools in the Vukovar-Srijem County. Our results have shown a certain effect of the studied trust dimensions on the specified aspects of social life, with trust in the Church proving to be a significant predictor. However, some of our initial hypotheses have not been confirmed, and it is particularly surprising that respondents did not associate general trust in people with compliance with norms, helping others, and migration aspirations. We believe that the presented results will contribute to the understanding of socialization of young people in modern Croatian society and encourage further research on the importance of trust in modern societies.
Keywords
trust; youth; social norms respect; helping others; premigration aspirations.
Hrčak ID:
305892
URI
Publication date:
12.7.2023.
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