TY - JOUR

T1 - Generalizing Trust

T2 - The Benign Force of Emancipation

AU - Welzel, Christian

AU - Delhey, Jan

PY - 2015/8/9

Y1 - 2015/8/9

N2 - Trust in people is general insofar as it extends to out-groups, that is, unfamiliar and dissimilar others. But whether trust in out-groups can emerge independently from in-group trust is controversial, and conclusive evidence has been unavailable. This article fills this gap, analyzing which conditions create out-group trust independent from in-group trust. Using data from 76 countries around the world, we establish three insights. First, while a high level of in-group trust is the rule, out-group trust varies greatly across countries. Second, out-group trust emerges independent from in-group trust when human empowerment emancipates people from in-group control. Third, other conditions championed as trust-crediting forces do not confound the effect of human empowerment. In conclusion, trust generalizes to out-groups as a result of human empowerment’s emancipatory impulse.

AB - Trust in people is general insofar as it extends to out-groups, that is, unfamiliar and dissimilar others. But whether trust in out-groups can emerge independently from in-group trust is controversial, and conclusive evidence has been unavailable. This article fills this gap, analyzing which conditions create out-group trust independent from in-group trust. Using data from 76 countries around the world, we establish three insights. First, while a high level of in-group trust is the rule, out-group trust varies greatly across countries. Second, out-group trust emerges independent from in-group trust when human empowerment emancipates people from in-group control. Third, other conditions championed as trust-crediting forces do not confound the effect of human empowerment. In conclusion, trust generalizes to out-groups as a result of human empowerment’s emancipatory impulse.

KW - Politics

KW - Gender und Diversity

KW - Politische Kulturforschung

KW - Political culture

KW - political change

KW - Gender and Diversity

KW - emancipation

KW - empowerment

KW - social capital

KW - trust

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84936766483&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/0022022115588366

DO - 10.1177/0022022115588366

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 46

SP - 875

EP - 896

JO - Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

JF - Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

SN - 0022-0221

IS - 7

ER -