CONCEPTS

TRUST 

In this and the next few issues we are going to present parts of the Report on trust, responsibility for social issues and charity in Macedonia. The report has been prepared on the basis of two surveys: Trust in the civil society organizations and Charity in the Republic of Macedonia. The surveys have been carried out by the Institute for Sociological and Political-Legal Researches in April 2006. The Report has been prepared by the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC).


Trust is the key component of the social capital. Generally speaking, three main types of trust can be identified.

The first one is social trust in the similar, particularized trust or personalized trust. This is trust inside, in the established relations or social networks (family, friends, neighbors etc.).

The second, general trust or socialized trust involves trust in unknown.

The third trust is institutional and it refers to established trust in the formal governing institutions and the society.

 

Trust in the similar and general trust

The citizens of Macedonia trust most in their families (94.3%), as opposed to the small majority of citizens (54.5%) who have general trust in people.

 

Table II 1. Trust Profile

Characteristics	Trusts (54,5%)	Does not trust (45.5%)
Sex	Has no influence
Age	Has no influence
Ethnicity	Has no influence
Education	Secondary/post-secondary (59.8%)	Unfinished and primary (58.1%/52.8%)
Employment status	Employed/public sector (66.8%)	Unemployed (54%)
Monthly income	6.001-9.000 MKD (63.9%)	To 2.000 MKD (57%)
Party orientation	SDSM (63.4%), DUI, DPA	VMRO-NP (49.2%)
Urbanization	A town with over 50.000 inhabitants (58.9%)	A town with up to 15.000 inhabitants (52.7%)
Region	Kumanovo (61.1%), Polog (63.8%), Pelagonija (61.9%)	Strumica (59%) Bregalnica (55.5%)

Differences between citizens according to their different demographic characteristics are noticeable in the structure.

Sex, age and ethnicity does not have any influence, unlike education, employment status, monthly income, political orientation, as well as urbanization and the region.

 

Trust in institutions

Trust in institutions has been surveyed along with the trust according to the three-sector approach: state, business (private) and civic sector. The media and political parties have been considered separately due to the possibility to belong to a few sectors. The international community has been added to them.

 

Chart II 2. How much you trust:

	Yes	No
The media	56.7%	43.3%
Business sector	49.8%	50.1%
Civic sector	48.1%	51.9%
International community	44.5%	55.6%
State	29.2%	70.8%
Political parties	22.3%	77.7%

The profile of trust in institutions follows the characteristics of general trust. There are certain deviations according to age, ethnicity and party orientation.

Younger generations (18-30 years old) have more trust in the business sector (56.2%) whereas those over 65 (and pensioners) have less trust in all sectors except the state – the media (trust 45.1%), the business sector (31.9%), the civic sector (35.2%), the international community (28.6%) and political parties (16.5%).

Ethnic Macedonians have less trust in the international community (35.1%) and political parties (15.7%). Ethnic Albanians have more trust in the business sector (64.4%), international community (69.1%) and political parties (42.1%). Both ethnic Macedonians (26.5%) and ethnic Albanians (36.2%) have similar trust in the state (29.2%).

Citizens who feel VMRO-DPMNE as their party have less trust in the civic sector (35%) and the international community (32.5%).

The citizens of Skopje have less trust in the media (45.6%), the state (19.7%), political parties (15%) and with smaller differences in the other sectors.

 

Trust in the state sector

Different institutions contribute differently to (dis)trust in the state.

65.6% of the respondents have trust in educational institutions, 49.6%, that is 45.5% of the respondents have trust in public institutions and local self-government respectively. The citizens have least trust in the Assembly (28.3%), the Government (26.6%) and the legal system (23.8%). There is a correlation between low trust in the state and the political parties, the president, the assembly, the government and the jurisdiction.

The profile of trust in state institutions follows the characteristics of general trust.

There are significant differences in the trust in the local self-government. More trust in it have ethnic Albanians (58.5%), DUI (57%), SDSM (55.7%) in Polog (72.7%), in Kumanovo region (52.9%), in Povardarie (53.8%), in Pelagonija (46%). Lower trust in the local self-government have the Ohrid region, Bregalnica region (30.8%) and Skopje (36.2%) and to some extent Strumica region (38.9%), ethnic Macedonians (40.1%).

 

Trust in the business sector

Trust in micro (family), small and medium sized, as well as large companies have been researched as part of the trust in the business sector.

Citizens have most trust in micro-companies (65.8%), versus 52% in large companies. It is in correlation with the big trust in the family (trust in the similar).

The profile of trust in business institutions follows the characteristics of general trust. Regional differences with high trust in micro-companies in Polog (86%) and low in the Bregalnica region (46.1%) have been pointed out a bit more.

 

Conclusions

Relatively low general trust and trust in institutions
Citizens have big trust in the similar (trust in family 94.3%) and low general trust (54.5%) and trust in institutions.

What is impressive is the higher trust on a micro or local level, that is, trust in micro-companies (65.8%) and local self-government (45.5%). It is in correlation with trust in the similar.

There is lower trust in the big and national institutions, except the media (56.7%) and educational institutions (65.6%).

There is particularly lower trust in the President (33.1%), the Parliament (28.3%), the Government (26.6%), the legal system (23.8%) and political parties (22.35).

The correlation of distrust might be possible with the perception of institutions’ party orientation.

Correlation of the general trust and the social indicators
The general trust is not in any regard in a correlation with the sex, age and ethnicity.

There is a correlation between the general trust and the social indicators: education, employment status, monthly income, party orientation. There is relation with the region and to some extent the level of urbanization.

Citizens with higher education, who are employed and receive higher monthly income trust more, and vice versa.

Taking into consideration the relations between the trust and the social capital, and the social capital and the level of development and welfare, the issue of further observation is the relation of higher trust (social capital) with groups in relative welfare.

Trust in the institutions in correlation with age and ethnicity
Trust in the institutions is significantly in correlation with indicators that affect the general trust.

There are some additional differences in the age and ethnicity.

Adults over 65 have lower trust in institutions, especially the “new ones”, unlike younger (18-30 years old) who have higher trust in the business and to some extent the civic sector.

Ethnic Albanians have higher trust in “new” institutions: business sector, international community, political parties and local self-government.

Both ethnic Albanians and ethnic Macedonians have similar (dis)trust in the state, but similar high trust in educational institutions, too.