Higher education and confidence in institutions: A secondary analysis of the ‘European values survey’, 1981–83

A secondary analysis of the 'European Values Survey' tests some of the theoretical conclusions regarding the rationality of trust and distrust in established institutions. A reanalysis of the data set's question relating to confidence in ten particular institutions shows that the expected impact of higher education on confidence in institutions to punish governments for breach of trust applies only to those countries with a long, uninterrupted tradition of upholding civil liberties. In these countries multivariate analyses reveal a latent pattern of 'civil society' which is the most important dimension of how institutions are perceived by respondents.