Social trust in education in European countries, 2002–2010

• Authors: Zbigniew Sawiński
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Social trust in education is at least partly rooted in the legitimacy of the principal institutions which organise the social order, such as the political system, democracy and economy. Easton formulated the theoretical justification for this hypothesis in the 1960s, while empirical confirmation was delayed until the first decade of this century, when the data was collected in the European Social Survey. The results of ESS confirmed the hypothesis that trust in education is influenced by the legitimacy of the more fundamental state institutions but the mechanisms of this effect vary across Europe. In countries where schools are autonomous and control over them is located at community level, trust in education becomes independent from social support for the state. However, in countries where education is considered to be a government agency, strongly shaped by political goals, people tend to evaluate education together with other state institutions. The ESS data also provide insight into factors determining trust in education at the level of the individual. Surprisingly, the lowest degree of trust was shown by the upper classes, including the educated, whom the education system had benefited most. This is not conducive to the involvement of such people in countries that are building their educational resources.

Keywords

EN

education; social trust; legitimacy; European Social Survey

• Publisher: Instytut Badań Edukacyjnych
• Journal: Edukacja
• Year: 2014
• Issue: 5(130)
• Pages: 19–39

Dates

published

2014-02-06

Contributors

author

Zbigniew Sawiński

• Educational Research Institute

References

• Allison, P. D. (1978). Measures of inequality. American Sociological Review, 43(6), 865–880.
• Bogaj, M. (2005). Przemiany aspiracji edukacyjnych młodzieży (1945–2004) [Changes in the educational aspirations of youth (1945–2004)]. Edukacja, 91(3), 38–45.
• Coleman, J. S. (1990). Foundations of social theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Collins, R. (1979). The credential society: An historical sociology of education and stratification. New York: Academic Press.
• Domański, H. and Słomczyński, K. M. (2010). Pozycja społeczna a poparcie dla systemu polityczno-ekonomicznego: kontekst europejski [Social position and support for the political and economic system: the European context]. In A. Rychard and H. Domański (eds.), Legitymizacja w Polsce. Nieustający kryzys w zmieniających się warunkach [Legitimacy in Poland. The incessant crisis in a changing environment] (pp. 61–87). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo IFiS PAN.
• Domański, H., Sawiński, Z. and Słomczyński, K. M. (2009). Sociological tools measuring occupations. New classification and scales. Warszawa: IFiS Publishers.
• Easton, D. (1965). A systems analysis of political life. New York: Wiley.
• ESS [European Social Survey] (2012). European Social Survey cumulative file, ESS 1–5 (2012). Data file edition 1.0. Norwegian Social Science Data Services, Norway – Data Archive and distributor of ESS data. Retrieved from http://ess.nsd.uib.no/downloadwizard/
• Freeman, R. B. (1976). The overeducated American. New York: Academic Press.
• Gerber, T. P. and Schaefer, D. R. (2004). Horizontal stratification of higher education in Russia: trends, gender differences, and labor market outcomes. Sociology of Education, 77, 32–59.
• Hanushek, E. A. and Woessman, L. (2011). How much do educational outcomes matter in OECD countries? Economic Policy, July 2011, 427–491.
• James, E. (1984). Benefits and costs of privatized public services: lessons from the Dutch educational system. Comparative Education Review, 28(4), 605–624.
• Kerlinger, F. N. and Pedhazur E. J. (1973). Multiple regression in behavioral research. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
• Kumlin, S. (2007). Overloaded or undermined? European welfare states in the face of performance dissatisfaction. In S. Svallfors (ed.), The Political sociology of the welfare state: institutions, social cleavages, and orientations. Studies in social inequality (pp. 80–116). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
• Mejding, J. and Roe A. (eds.). (2006). Northern lights on PISA 2003 – a reflection from the Nordic countries. Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers.
• Newton, K. and Montero, J. R. (2007). Patterns of political and social participation in Europe. In R. Jowell, C. Roberts, R. Fitzgerald and G. Eva (eds.), Measuring attitudes cross-nationally. Lessons from the European Social Survey (pp. 205–237). London: Sage Publications.
• OECD [Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] (2010). PISA 2009 Results: Executive summary. Paris: OECD Publications.
• OECD (2012). Education at a glance 2012: OECD indicators. Paris: OECD Publishing. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2012-en
• Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone. The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
• Roosma, F., Gelissen, J. and Oorschot, W. van (2012). The multidimensionality of welfare state attitudes: a European cross-national study. Social Indicators Research (on-line). Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-0099-4
• Sawiński, Z. (1987). Aspiracje edukacyjne młodzieży polskiej w latach 1977–1987 [Educational aspirations of Polish youth in 1977–1987] Warszawa: Instytut Badań Problemów Młodzieży.
• Sawiński, Z. (2013). The International Standard Classification of Education ISCED: the standard from Sevres or Satan’s trick? Edukacja. An interdisciplinary approach, 1, 115–133. (The English reprint of article: Międzynarodowa standardowa klasyfikacja wykształcenia ISCED. Wzorzec z Sevres czy wymysł Szatana? published in Edukacja, 120(4), 2012, 100–119).
• Schoon, I., Cheng, H., Gale, C. R., Batty, G. D. and Deary I. J. (2010). Social status, cognitive ability, and educational attainment as predictors of liberal social attitudes and political trust. Intelligence, 38(1), 144–150.
• Simola, H. (2005). The Finnish miracle of PISA: historical and sociological remarks on teaching and teacher education. Comparative Education, 41(4), 455–470.
• Svallfors, S. (ed.) (2007). The political sociology of the welfare state: institutions, social cleavages, and orientations. Studies in social inequality. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
• Wciórka, B. (2009). Aspiracje i motywacje edukacyjne Polaków w latach 1993–2009. Komunikat z badań BS/70/2009 [Educational aspirations and motivations of Poles in 1993–2009. Research Report]. Warszawa: Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej.
• Weatherford, M. S. (1992). Measuring political legitimacy. American Political Science Review, 86(1), 149–166.
• Wiśniewski, W. (1984). Aspiracje edukacyjne społeczeństwa polskiego [Educational aspirations of Polish society]. In W. Wiśniewski (ed.), Oświata w społecznej świadomości [Education in social consciousness] (pp. 66–88). Warszawa: Młodzieżowa Agencja Wydawnicza.
• World Bank (2012). GDP per capita. Retrieved from: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD

Notes

EN

http://www.edukacja.ibe.edu.pl/images/numery/2014/5-2-sawinski-social-trust-in-education.pdf

Identifiers

ISSN

0239-6858