Trust in Institutions among European Muslims

• In Event: 165 - Section on Sociology of Religion Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 05. Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Islam

Abstract

Trust is essential to sustain and strengthen political institutions, and both theoretical and empirical research usually links higher trust with more democracy. Numerous studies pointing to declining levels of trust in Western societies towards the end of the 20th century aroused concern with the future of democratic governance, and inspired debate about the causes of this decline. One of the suggested reasons was increased population mobility and immigration, particularly from culturally distant regions, including Muslims. And yet recent studies show that in many European countries Muslims tend to express more trust in state institutions than any other population group, a finding that requires more systematic analysis. The purpose of this project is to investigate the association between religious affiliation and confidence in political institutions in Europe. Specifically, I want to disentangle the interaction between adherence to Islam and migrant status, with the aim of understanding the source of higher political trust among Muslims in Europe. In order to do this, I will estimate hierarchical linear models, using two cross-national datasets, the European Values Study and the European Social Survey, both from 2008. This will allow me to cross-check obtained results, and to extend the scope and include countries with native Muslim populations from the Balkans covered by EVS. Results of these analyses, in addition to improving the understanding of religious underpinnings of political attitudes, could have practical implications for immigration and diversity-management policies in Western Europe, and help bring the (anti-)Islamic discourse to a more constructive level.

Author

• Marta Joanna Kolczynska, The Ohio State University