Social trust and affective polarization in Spain (2014–19)
Open accessAbstract
One overlooked aspect of the rising levels of affective polarization is its effect on general social trust. In the present article, we analyze the relationship between affective polarization and various measures of social trust using two separate panel surveys that were implemented in Spain in two different political periods (2014–2015 and 2018–2019), in order to assess whether the individual variations in the levels of affective polarization may affect people's trust in other members of society. Our findings suggest that affective polarization towards out-party members has a mutually reinforcing negative relationship with general social trust, generating a pervasive equilibrium of social and political deterioration that might contribute to worsening democratic quality. This effect is not compensated by any significant bonding effect resulting from in-partisan identification, whose effects seem to be restricted just to the very closest inner-circle individuals.
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More recent studies in multi-party contexts have turned to question wording that specifies affect for supporters of a particular party.
“Refining the measure, more recent studies in multi-party contexts have turned to question wording that specifies affect for supporters of a particular party (Harteveld, 2021;Torcal & Thomson, 2023).”
From Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures (2026) · cites this paper as Torcal & Thomson, 2023
Cites
The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States
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How General Is Trust in “Most People”? Solving the Radius of Trust Problem
Delhey, J., Newton, K., & Welzel, C. (2011) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.1177/0003122411420817 · Cited by 817 · see citing works
Affective Polarization in Multiparty Systems
Wagner, M. (2021) · Electoral Studies · doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2020.102199 · Cited by 593 · see citing works
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American Affective Polarization in Comparative Perspective
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Intergroup Discrimination: Ingroup Love or Outgroup Hate?
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Measuring affective polarization: Matching concepts to measures
Druckman, J. N., Klar, S., Krupnikov, Y., Levendusky, M., & Ryan, J. B. (2026) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.70152 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Torcal, M., & Thomson, Z. A.
- Affiliations
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Torcal, Mariano
- Venue
- Electoral Studies
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2023-02
- Volume
- 81
- Pages
- 102582
- ISSN
- 0261-3794 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4319449747
- Cited by
- 40
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 2
- FWCI
- 39.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Electoral Studies (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Repositori digital de la UPF (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats
- Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Capital and Networks
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
- Keywords
- affective polarization, social trust, political polarization, quality of democracy, Spain, interpersonal trust
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