Is it Rational to Use “Most People in Society” as One of the Multivariate Trustees in Measuring Social Trust? - An Empirical Analysis Based on a Survey at BNU

In the questionnaires on social trust level, “most people in society” is often used as a trustee. The analysis of this paper shows that, for the respondents in Chinese context, “most people in society” belongs to their “outsiders”, in opposition to their “insiders”. Therefore, “most people in society” can be used as a single trustee to measure generalized trust, which results yet can’t be compared to the international. If multivariate trustees are applied to measure social trust, this paper claims that “most people in society” is not suitable for a parallel trustee.