Outward specific trust in the balancing of hierarchical government trust: Evidence from mainland China

This study elaborates the link between social trust and government trust by investigating how the extent of outwardness in one's specific trusting relation, as coalescence of trust strength and radius, relates to the varying trust in governments of different administrative levels. Using survey data collected in China, a country featured by the hierarchical government trust and differential mode of interpersonal association, we show that, in both urban and rural areas, the outward orientation of interpersonal trust is positively associated with the trust in the subnational governments, while being independent from the confidence in the central government, suggesting a less hierarchical and more balanced attitude toward government trust. One's generalized trust fails to show such a pattern. This study illustrates a handy measure that combines trust radius and trust strength and highlights the relevance of specific trust for political attitudes in an authoritarian regime.