The Relationship between Low Income and Generalized Trust across Different Ethnic Groups in the United States

Abstract

Recent years have seen increased calls for justice and equality across different ethnic groups in the United States. The present research focuses on income inequality and its effects on generalized trust. The question I will address is whether income inequality has different effects on generalized trust across different ethnic groups. Previous research has focused on the relationship between diversity and generalized trust related to diversity. In contrast, scant research has focused on the relationship between ethnicity and generalized trust. The present study aims to shed light on the knowledge of the relationship between inequality and generalized trust across ethnic groups. Using multivariate regression with data from the 7th wave of the World Value Survey, allowed me to find a significant negative association between low-income and generalized trust. In addition, subgroup regression analysis on ethnic groups showed a significant negative association between low-income and generalized trust in Black Americans but not Hispanic Americans. Alternate measures of trust supported the negative relationship between low-income and generalized trust but failed to identify a significant relationship between low- income and trust in marginalized ethnic groups. Taken together, my findings support the notion of a negative effect of rising inequality and generalized trust. My findings highlight the importance of income equality for generalized trust.