Journal of the Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research No. 1/2020

ANALYSIS OF TRUST IN SERBIA: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

Nikola Drndarević

Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research, Belgrade

Sonja Protić

Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research, Belgrade

International Psychoanalytic University Berlin

Received: 01. March, 2020

Accepted: 04. May, 2020

UDK: 316.6:17

316.37

Pages: 7-25

doi:

This study aimed to analyze social and institutional trust in Serbia and their demographic and socioeconomic correlates. Moreover, two alternative models on the direction of influence between social and institutional trust were tested. The European Social Survey data in the Serbian community sample (N = 1660, 49% women, mean age 52.5 years (SD = 17.7)) revealed generally low levels of all the aspects of trust, whereas trust in international institutions was the lowest. Participants who have lost a spouse or belonged to an older generation reported lower social trust and trust in international institutions, but higher trust in local institutions. Lower trust in local institutions but higher social trust was reported by participants of higher income and education. Model testing effects of social trust on institutional trusts showed a better fit than the reversed model. These results indicate the continuity of the 1990s' trust crisis: the epistemic hypervigilance and system that cannot be trusted. Mediators of the relationship between social and institutional trust should be investigated in future research.

KEY WORDS: social trust / institutional trust / demographics / Serbia

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