Torsello, Davide - Pappová, Melinda: Social Networks in Movement. Time, interaction and interethnic spaces in Central Eastern Europe - Nostra Tempora 8. (Somorja-Dunaszerdahely, 2003)
Time and social networks
70 Davide Torsello In order to test the different degrees of trust towards formal institutions and informal clusters in villagers’ everyday social life (such as neighbours, close and distant relatives, work colleagues and friends), a scale of trust from 0 (the lowest value) to 5 (the highest value) was chosen to evaluate their position towards these categories. Chart 5 gives a picture of the average level of trust that one hundred randomly-chosen villagers (64 male and 36 female) formulated in relation to 14 different categories. These include: family, close relatives, distant relatives, neighbours, friends, villagers, work colleagues, the church, local officials,2 politicians, the agricultural cooperative, village social and cultural clubs, the state and the Ell. The highest mean level of trust was obtained by the family3 with 4.56, followed by the category close relatives (3.86) and friends (3.54). The cooperative (JRD) (1.87), the state (1.35) and finally politicians (1.19) occupied the lower end of the spectrum. Mid-range positions were occupied by work colleagues (2.98) and social and cultural clubs (2.79). On the other hand, villagers scored rather poorly with 2.42. Finally, the trust level for local officials reached 2.7, much greater than that of the cooperative. Chart 5 Trust Level Source: Household questionnaire survey Two conclusions can be drawn from these data. First, opinions about trust depend on the degree of interaction between peo-
