The Structure of Social Trust in Postindustrial Cities of Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Social trust as an academic problem has attracted the attention of contemporary scholars from various fields of the social sciences. A new direction in research on social trust is defining its structure and relationships between individuals and between individuals and social groups, as well as the attitude of individuals and social groups to institutional organizations. Sociological studies in cities in a number of Central and Eastern European countries have demonstrated the complex consequences of modernization in the lives of urban communities, including lower economic potential, an increase in unemployment, tension in people’s lives, intensifying criminal elements, growing internal and external migration, and so forth. All of this has influenced trust between citizens, between citizens and groups, and in relation to social institutions. Our task was to assess the scale of trust and its forms in different groups and to track the relationship between forms and levels of trust. We show that urban communities display a trust deficit, particularly with respect to social institutions. Finally, within the structure of trust we identified horizontal, vertical, and generalized forms of trust and, on their basis of their interconnection, five dominant models of social trust.