Events

Abstract: Only states will be able to solve many of the greatest challenges the world is facing. Yet ordinary people around the world are--sometimes but not always with good reason--sceptical about the competence and/or integrity of political elites and institutions. In this talk, I will present new evidence about both the consequences and the causes of this political distrust. First, survey experiments suggest that distrust is behind much of the public opposition to many potentially important public policies. Second, panel data show that distrust is a function of people's direct experiences with public institutions. Third, data from the World Values Survey further support the institutional theory that political trust underlies people's trust in virtually all social institutions, even some that may actually challenge the state.

The Sociology Seminar Series for Michaelmas Term is convened by Christiaan Monden and Leo Azzolini.  For more information about this or any of the seminars in the series, please contact sociology.secretary@nuffield.ox.ac.uk.