Social Trust

Author(s):  
Anke Draude ◽  
Lasse Hölck ◽  
Dietlind Stolle

This chapter investigates the relevance of social trust for governance in areas of limited statehood (ALS), especially to compensate for the lack of third-party enforcement. To capture the forms of trust in a variety of societies from small-scale communities to larger social entities, we differentiate between personalized, particularized, and generalized trust. Empirical and theoretical literature from different disciplines suggests that trust facilitates social cooperation and enables collective action at all levels. While particularized trust tends to have exclusionary effects though, and generalized trust is almost absent in ALS, inclusive forms of trust might emerge from bridging collective identities and everyday experiences of impartiality and fairness. We conclude that governance initiatives can help spreading trust, particularly by promoting universal values through service-providing institutions like schools and hospitals. Existing trust relations, in turn, can serve as facilitators of effective and legitimate governance in ALS.

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 448-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanshan Miao ◽  
Wim Heijman ◽  
Xueqin Zhu ◽  
Qian Lu

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of four components of social capital on farmers’ participative behaviour in collective actions for constructing and operating small-scale groundwater irrigation systems on the Guanzhong Plain, Shaanxi Province, China. Design/methodology/approach – The four components (social networks, social trust, social reciprocity and social participation) were derived by employing exploratory factor analysis. Logistic model was used to estimate the influence of these components on farmers’ participative behaviour. Information was obtained from a field survey covering six counties in 2011 of Shaanxi Province, China. Findings – The findings indicate that considering different components of social capital allows for a better understanding of farmers’ participative behaviour. The authors find that higher levels of social trust and social participation lead to a higher propensity for collective action, while social reciprocity reduces the probability of participation. Other socio-economic factors and farming characteristics such as education levels, cultivated area, cropping patterns and grain subsidies also have a significant impact. Practical implications – The findings suggest creating favourable conditions for communication and information exchanges between households, which enhance their trust of each other, and encourage farmers to participate in collective affairs. Moreover, supportive rules are necessary for the future development of collective action. The results of this study also have implications for national irrigation plans for small-scale irrigation facilities in other developing countries. Originality/value – A consideration of the different components of social capital allows for a more precise understanding of farmers’ participative behaviour.


Author(s):  
Jitendra Singh ◽  
Vikas Kumar

Regulatory compliance is equally binding on small and medium business groups. Owing to the small scale and limited budget, such SMBs are unable to seek expert advice. To adequately guard the SMBs in regulatory compliance, the present work proposed a third-party managed-end user-driven approach that renders the list of regulatory acts applicable in one's case according to the country of one's residence, services subscribed, and type of the operations to be carried out in subscribed cloud paradigm. The list of applicable regulatory acts are rendered at the subscriber's end only. In addition, the proposed method notifies the present state of compliance of under-considered cloud providers. Based on the recommendation received, the subscriber can proceed with his decision to subscribe or not to subscribe in the event if desired compliances do not exist. This technological assistance will eliminate the need to possess the required knowledge in regulatory acts or seeking advice from the regulatory expert.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandros Korkovelos ◽  
Hisham Zerriffi ◽  
Mark Howells ◽  
Morgan Bazilian ◽  
H-Holger Rogner ◽  
...  

Achieving universal access to electricity by 2030 is a key part of the Agenda for Sustainable Development, and has its own Sustainable Development Goal, SDG 7.1. This is because electricity services are required for almost all aspects of a modern economy, from the cooling of vaccines to irrigation pumping, to manufacturing and running a business. The achievement of SDG 7.1 will require a thoughtful mix of policy, finance, and technology to be designed and implemented at scale. Yet, the pressing need for an electrification ramp-up is not unprecedented. Many countries (now considered “industrialized”) faced similar challenges about a century ago. Although the existing literature covers a great deal of power systems evolution, there is a gap around the specific role and impact of small, isolated power systems in the early stages of electricity uptake. In this paper, we provide insights based on the review of the historical electrification efforts in four (now middle and high-income) countries. The drivers and context of electrification efforts in early stages are described. Those focus particularly on the role of dispersed, small-scale generation systems (mini-grids). Our analysis shows that electrification follows four loosely defined phases, namely: pilot projects, technological roll-out, economic expansion, and social scale-up. We report a selection of historical mistakes and advances that offer lessons of striking importance for today´s energy access efforts, particularly in regards to the development of mini-grids. We find that today, as historically, multi-stakeholder (e.g., planners, regulators, developers, investors, third party actors) collaboration is key and can help build locally adaptable, economically sustainable and community compatible mini-grids that can accelerate—and lower the societal costs of—universal access to electricity.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svein Jentoft ◽  
Maarten Bavinck ◽  
Enrique Alonso-Población ◽  
Anna Child ◽  
Antonio Diegues ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janmaat

This paper explores how generalized trust develops over the life course among young people in England and whether trust is influenced more by family background factors or by conditions in late adolescence and early adulthood. If the latter are important, there may be reason for concern about falling levels of trust as material conditions, particularly regarding housing, have deteriorated for the present generation of young people. The first set of influences are highlighted by a perspective arguing that trust is primarily shaped by conditions in early childhood, while the latter are suggested by the so-called social learning perspective, which claims that people continuously adjust their social trust through interactions with people in different contexts. Analyzing data of the Citizenship Education Longitudinal Survey, the study finds that trust remains quite volatile until the early twenties. It declines between ages 16 and 23 and groups differing in educational attainment, civic participation and housing situation start to drift apart in their levels of trust between these ages. Educational attainment, civic participation and housing, as conditions pertaining to late adolescence and early adulthood, also turn out to have a significant impact on trust at age 23 controlling for trust at age 16. However, while the first two conditions are influenced by trust at age 16, housing (tenure) is not, indicating it is a more exogenous factor. Family background factors are not influential. Not only do these findings support the social learning perspective, they also suggest that poor living conditions depress trust among a significant minority of young people and exacerbate disparities of trust.


AMBIO ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 1282-1296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sverker C. Jagers ◽  
Niklas Harring ◽  
Åsa Löfgren ◽  
Martin Sjöstedt ◽  
Francisco Alpizar ◽  
...  

Abstract The phenomenon of collective action and the origin of collective action problems have been extensively and systematically studied in the social sciences. Yet, while we have substantial knowledge about the factors promoting collective action at the local level, we know far less about how these insights travel to large-scale collective action problems. Such problems, however, are at the heart of humanity’s most pressing challenges, including climate change, large-scale natural resource depletion, biodiversity loss, nuclear proliferation, antibiotic resistance due to overconsumption of antibiotics, and pollution. In this paper, we suggest an analytical framework that captures the theoretical understanding of preconditions for large-scale collective action. This analytical framework aims at supporting future empirical analyses of how to cope with and overcome larger-scale collective action problems. More specifically, we (i) define and describe the main characteristics of a large-scale collective action problem and (ii) explain why voluntary and, in particular, spontaneous large-scale collective action among individual actors becomes more improbable as the collective action problem becomes larger, thus demanding interventions by an external authority (a third party) for such action to be generated. Based on this, we (iii) outline an analytical framework that illustrates the connection between third-party interventions and large-scale collective action. We conclude by suggesting avenues for future research.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Wong ◽  
Kris Christmann ◽  
Michelle Rogerson ◽  
Neil Monk

The underreporting of hate crime is recognised as problematic for jurisdictions across Europe and beyond. Within the UK, the landmark inquiry report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence 25 years ago has seen governments faithfully adhering to a policy of promoting the increased reporting of hate crime. An enduring legacy of the inquiry, third-party reporting centres (TPRCs) have been equally faithfully promoted as the primary vehicle for achieving such increases. While the nations of the United Kingdom have pioneered the development of TPRCs, their function and form have been adopted in other jurisdictions, including Victoria, Australia. Nevertheless, despite their reliance on TPRCs, policymakers have given limited attention to their efficacy. The evidence from a plethora of small scale studies has consistently found that TPRCs have been limited by public awareness, capability, capacity and poor oversight difficulties. Responding to these long-standing problems, the authors have developed the first ‘TPRC assessment tool’ which offers a diagnostic facility to improve effectiveness. This paper describes the development and piloting of this tool and highlights its potential to inform policy and practice both in the UK and internationally, providing an original contribution to the limited evidence base around third-party reporting.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun-Yen Lee ◽  
Ching-Hsing Chang

Forest certification plays a notable role in promoting sustainability. This certification shows that forestland holders have adopted innovative practices toward realizing sustainable business models. Relatively little analysis has been devoted to identifying the efforts of transforming a conventional business model into a sustainable version through the application of forest certification. This paper examines the elements of a sustainable business model: value proposition, value creation and delivery, and value capture in certified forestland holders’ business operations. Empirical results have confirmed that certification signifies a successful sustainability transformation within adopting firms. However, these small organizations struggle with obtaining know-how regarding sustainable forest management. There needs to be adequate external support, such as government consultants or academic researchers, in order to successfully adopt third-party forest certification. However, while practicing sustainable forest management activities will not guarantee premium prices, the certification has, in some rare cases, helped to develop a new niche market. Good communication with stakeholders has improved firms’ relationships with local residents, but more channels of communication are still needed to activate green consumers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Eggert

This article analyzes patterns of collective action in the field of immigration by looking at relational dynamics in two different local political settings. Drawing on a relational approach to the study of collective action, the general assumption is that the specific political opportunity structure (POS) in the field of immigration shapes the logics of interaction of migrants' associations. To test this hypothesis, we compare migrants' organizational networks in two cities characterized by two different opportunity structures—Lyon and Zurich. We thus apply network analysis to examine the density, the structural patterns, and the distribution of ties amongst organizations in the two cities. Results suggest that specific opportunities in the two contexts, by providing differential institutional access to migrant associations and publicly recognizing different collective identities, partly shape the relational patterns in the field and thus the modes of coordination of collective action adopted by migrants' organizations.


Author(s):  
Meredith Rolfe

This article examines collective action, focusing on the role of social interactions, conflict, and the dynamics of interpersonal influence in shaping collective identities and interests. The discussion is based on the co-occurrence of individuals’ interest and group identity through a consistent course of action and begins with an overview of analytical models used to investigate extraordinary forms of collective action. The article then describes formal models and the problem of cooperation between self-interested actors, along with the notion of free-riding and the origin of shared interests and collective identities, paying attention to the importance of conflict, social networks, and interpersonal influence. It also explores the role of multiple levels of decision-making and actors’ consciousness in collective action before proposing a formal approach to collective action that is simultaneously less and more rational than the one currently employed in analytical sociology.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document