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Citizen Confidence in Social and Political Institutions in a Changing World

Bean, Clive S. (2003) Citizen Confidence in Social and Political Institutions in a Changing World. In Bradley, Rebecca and Lyddon, Jeff and Buys, Laurie, Eds. Proceedings Social Change in the 21st Century, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.

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Abstract

The focus in some literatures towards the end of the 20th century on the crisis of governability and on challenges to governance in the western world has given way in the early part of the 21st century to a focus on broader social and political uncertainty in the face of a world now dominated by ongoing threats of major terrorist activity. These developments, together with evidence of declining trust and social capital, have placed considerable pressure on a range of major social and political institutions. This paper uses survey research data to investigate public confidence in a number of prominent organisations and institutions in Australia and how this confidence is changing. The paper considers not only the level of public confidence, but also the dimensionality of such attitudes and the socio-political factors that shape them. The paper concludes with a consideration of the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.

Item Type:Conference Paper
Status:Published
Keywords:Confidence in institutions; social attitudes; political behaviour; social capital; governance
Subjects:370000 Studies in Human Society > 370100 Sociology > 370107 Social Change
360000 Policy and Political Science > 360100 Political Science > 360101 Australian Government and Politics
ID Code:114
Deposited By:Bradley, Rebecca
Deposited On:10 June 2004
Copyright Owner:Copyright 2003 Clive S. Bean