Miza politică a unor forme de încredere

Abstract

The relevance of cultural factors for the functioning of a political system has been long debated in the social sciences. In the '90s, social capital has qualified as a term that refers to cultural attributes of individuals and communities. Research on the subject argues that (1) social capital can have a positive influence on political life and (2) both the state and civil society contribute to the construction of social capital through intentional acts. This paper evaluates these claims within the Romanian political context. The analysis focuses on those components of social capital that are related to individual attitudes of trust and tries to clarify the relationship among social trust, political trust, strategic trust and particularized trust. The paper suggests that trust is not accurately portrayed as a unique, unified concept, but rather that trust is multidimensional. Additionally, certain forms of trust influence levels of political participation.