Social sustainability and social (Dis)trust in outgroups: Evidence from Germany and Spain using the Factorial Survey

Edurne Bartolomé; Hermann Dülmer; Lluís Coromina

doi:10.18543/ced-64-2021pp81-109

Edurne Bartolomé University of Deusto
Hermann Dülmer University of Cologne
Lluís Coromina University of Girona

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18543/ced-64-2021pp81-109

Keywords: generalised trust, particularised trust, threat perception, factorial survey, social sustainability

Abstract

In the short to medium term, ethnic diversity tends to reduce trust. This negative relationship can be explained by social identity theory and integrated threat theory. The latter theory distinguishes realistic (socio-economic) threat perceptions from symbolic (cultural) ones. Huntington believes that with the end of the Cold War, conflicts shifted from being primarily economic to cultural, mainly religious ones. The goal of this article is to disentangle for the first time the impact of different sources of perceived threat as well as of in-group/out-group–based differences on trust by using a factorial survey conducted in Bilbao (Spain) and Cologne (Germany). Our main findings are that although both towns differ in religious and socio-economic composition, their citizens possess a similar level of generalised trust and perceive socio-economic threat as being much stronger than cultural threat. Weak evidence is also found for in-group/out-group–based differences in particularised trust.

Recibido: 03 February 2021
Aceptado: 10 March 2021

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Author Biographies

Edurne Bartolomé, University of Deusto

Lecturer and researcher at the University of Deusto, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, department of International Relations and Humanities. She has been dedicating most part of her research and publications to the study of political culture, political values and attitudes in comparative perspective, political support and trust, and the application of experimental models. She is Program Director for Spain of the European Values Study. Among her most recent publications we can highlight the article Voicu, B. Bartolomé Peral E. et al “How Covid-19 shaped orientations towards solidarity. The cases of Spain, Hungary, and Romania”. Volume 23, 2021 - Issue sup1 in European Societies S887-S904. Moreover, she has published in journals such as Democratization, Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (JEMIE), Methodology-European Journal of Research Methods for the Behavioural and Social Sciences, Migraciones, European societies among others, and she has also published book chapters in Brill, Palgrave McMillan, Routledge and CIS among others.

Hermann Dülmer, University of Cologne

Asistant professor (Private Lecturer) of Sociology at the Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology of the University of Cologne, Germany. His methodological interests focus on factorial surveys and on multilevel analysis including multilevel structural equation modeling. His substantive interests include comparative value research and electoral research with a particular emphasis on right-wing extremism. Since many years he is lecturer for workshops on multilevel analysis for GESIS in Mannheim/Germany. He also gave courses on multilevel analysis (including multilevel structural equation modeling) for summer schools at the LCSR of the HSE University in Moscow and St. Petersburg/Russian Federation and at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon/Portugal. He has published in international journals such as Sociological Methods & Research, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Social Justice Research, and the European Journal of Political Research. Among his most recently published articles are Davidov, E., H. Dülmer, J. Cieciuch, A. Kuntz, D. Seddig, and P. Schmidt. 2018. “Explaining Measurement Nonequivalance Using Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling: The Case of Attitudes Toward Citizenship Rights”, Sociological Methods & Research, 47 (4): 729-60 and Dülmer, H. 2016. “The Factorial Survey: Design Selection and its Impact on Reliability and Internal Validity”, Sociological Methods & Research, 45 (2): 304-47. Together with M. Voicu and I. C. Mochmann he published in 2016 the editor’s book Values, Economic Crisis and Democracy, Routledge.

Lluís Coromina, University of Girona

Associate professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Girona (Spain), he belongs to the area of quantitative methods in social sciences. His research focuses on survey methodology, structural equation models for comparative purposes in sociology, political sciences and social sciences as a broader field. His recent research covers the quality of survey data measurement. He is a reviewer for various international impact factor journals and has published in international journals such as Social Indicators Research, Social Networks, Tourism Management, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, etc. His recent publications are: Bartolomé-Peral, E., y Coromina, L.. 2021. “Attitudes towards Life and Death in Europe: A Comparative Analysis”, Czech Sociological Review, 56 (6): 835–62; Coromina, L., y Bartolomé Peral, E.. 2020. “Comparing Alignment and Multiple Group CFA for Analysing Political Trust in Europe during the Crisis”, Methodology, 16 (1): 21–40.