Does Power Drive Out Trust? Relations between Labour Market Actors in Sweden

• Published in: Political studies Vol. 58; no. 1; pp. 143 - 166
• Main Authors: Öberg, PerOla, Svensson, Torsten
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.02.2010; SAGE Publications; Political Studies Association; Sage Publications Ltd
• Series: Political Studies
• Subjects: Case studies; Cooperation; Group membership; Labor market; Labour market; Markets; Neutralism; Perception of others; Political power; Political science; Power; Power relations; SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP; Social psychology; SOCIAL SCIENCES; Socialvetenskap; Statsvetenskap; Sweden; Trust; Sweden
• ISSN: 0032-3217; 1467-9248; 1467-9248
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9248.2008.00772.x

Although power and trust are crucial to human cooperation, and considerable attention has been paid to both these concepts in the social sciences, the relationship between them has been poorly investigated. In this article, based on data about a complete network of labour market actors in Sweden, it is investigated whether power ‘drives out trust’ or if power is a requirement of trust. In contrast to previous research, the article concludes that there is a positive relationship between power and trust, although it levels out when power is at a very high level. Also in disagreement with previous findings, it is shown that symmetry in power relations is not a guarantee of trust: two actors with symmetric low power do not trust each other, at least not in this specific institutional setting. Moreover, the theoretical argument is developed and refined by showing that shared beliefs and group membership also have an independent impact on trust, as well as a perception that the other actor is pursuing the common good. Hence, the presumed negative impact of power on trust is not only neutralised, but also transformed into a positive impact in the social context investigated here. However, more research is needed to show whether this finding is true only within certain institutional settings and, if so, within which ones.