How do norm-related beliefs influence social trust? Comparing moralistic and rationalistic explanation of social trust

Abstract

In the light of many societal benefits of social trust, individual determinants of social trust have been a popular subject of sociological research. We draw from norm-research to investigate how a person’s constellation of norm-related beliefs influences social trust. By applying structural equation modelling to survey of 1977 individuals conducted between June 2021 and January 2022 in Rome, Italy, we test whether the effect of respondents’ beliefs about Covid-19 norms on social trust was better predicted by moralistic or rationalistic theory of social trust. Our findings show that the perception of moral similarities in relation to Covid-19 norms contributed more to social trust than the perception that others support norms that limit the pandemic. This indicates that moralistic account of social trust that grounds it in perceived moral similarity triumphs rationalistic one that grounds social trust in perceived preference of others to act in line with our interests. However, our findings also show that perceived moral agreement with others is not enough to explain social trust as perception of others’ behaviour has an effect on social trust an independent effect on social trust. Although moralistic theory better reflected how norm-related beliefs about Covid-19 distancing norms affected social trust compared to rationalistic theory, none of them can explain the effect of perceived behaviour on social trust, calling for developement in theoretical mechanisms in the future.