Theories Of Social Trust Formation: A Brief Literature Overview

In this paper, an overview of the theories on social trust formation is provided, which are grouped into two types: ‘individual’ and ‘societal’ theories. Individual theories embrace the network, socio-psychological, life experience, ideological and socio-demographic theories. Under societal theories, the following mechanisms of trust formation are specified: income inequality, country wealth, fractionalization, institutional, and Protestant theories.