Open this publication in new window or tab >>2015 (English)In: Acta Politica, ISSN 0001-6810, E-ISSN 1741-1416, Vol. 50, no 3, p. 253-278Article in journal (Other academic) Published
Abstract [en]
The role of ‘fair’ institutions in developing democratic legitimacy has received increased attention. Citizens who perceive – on basis of past experiences – that they are being treated fairly by authorities have been held to have greater trust in political institutions. However, previous studies on the relationship between procedural fairness and political trust have not paid sufficient attention to individuals with limited first-hand experiences of authorities. We examine the relationship on an authority that virtually all individuals meet early in life: the school. Using structural equation modeling on unique panel data covering 1,500 Swedish adolescents (ages ranging from 13 to 17), we find a reciprocal relationship: personal encounters with school authorities shape young people’s political trust; however, the images that adolescents get of the political system (through family, peers, media, etc.) have also consequences on their perceptions about the authorities they encounter in their daily lives. The analysis increases our understanding of how individuals form their political allegiances by showing that the relationship between fairness and trust is more dynamic than has previously been suggested: neither an accumulated set of experiences of authorities nor formal ties with political institutions (as voters, etc.) are required for a relationship to emerge.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Palgrave Macmillan Ltd., 2015
Keywords
Procedural fairness, political trust, reciprocal, school, adolescents, Sweden, structural equation modeling
National Category
Political Science
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-35331 (URN)10.1057/ap.2014.22 (DOI)000359176500001 ()2-s2.0-84935471543 (Scopus ID)
Note
This study was made possible by access to data from the Political Socialization Program, a longitudinal research program at YeS (Youth & Society) at Örebro University, Sweden. Responsible for the planning, implementation, and financing of the collection of data in this project were Professors Erik Amnå, Mats Ekström, Margaret Kerr, and Håkan Stattin. The data collection was supported by grants from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. Moreover, the participation of Pär Zetterberg in the writing of this study was made possible by a grant from the Swedish Research Council.
2014-06-112014-06-112023-12-08Bibliographically approved