The King Has Lost His Crown? Opinions toward the Monarchy and Consequences for Social Trust

• In Event: 3465 - Social Capital and Trust

Abstract

In explaining cross-national variation in social trust, scholars have argued that political institutions are influential in enhancing trust in others. Recently, Bjørnskov (2007) underscored the importance of the role of monarchies in this. As a unifying symbol, monarchs are able to pacify past and future with the present, and are able to bind social cleavages that are politically represented by partisan institutions; further, monarchies exists on the grace of its citizens. This paper puts this macro-level thesis to a micro-level empirical test by questioning whether positive opinions towards the monarchy relate to social trust. In order to test this, we analyze the 2014 Belgian National Election Study, which questioned about 2,000 Belgians about their political preferences and related social attitudes. Contrary to the theory, we discover a negative relationship between love for the crown and social trust: those who support the monarchy are less trusting.

Authors

• Tim Reeskens, Tilburg University

• Koen Abts, Tilburg University