Disability in a perspective of generalized trust. Comparative analysis in selected European countries

Abstract

The aim of the article was to present the results of a comparative analysis between levels of generalized trust of people with disabilities in fourteen European countries in the context of the general public. The data used in the analysis came from the European Social Survey 2002–2016. The basis of the analysis was the assumption that generalized trust is a reflection of a certain cultural pattern affecting all of society, which is built on the assessment regarding the quality of the functioning of the state and its institutions. This assessment showed differences not only between individual countries, but also indiacated a distance that separates disabled people from the rest of society. Comparison of results from several countries differing in social and economic development showed coherent and universal dependency patterns. Firstly, countries characterized by a higher level of development showed a higher level of trust in the whole society including people with disabilities. Secondly, regardless of differences in the level of development amongst individual countries, the differences in the level of trust between the general public and of people with disabilities were similar. Thirdly, in most of the countries surveyed, disability at the individual level was not a determinant to the assessment of generalized trust if an influence of sociodemographic characteristics and social order assessment were controlled for.