FILSAFAT KORUPSI - Direktori File UPI

I explore how trust and trustworthiness affect each other and what societal factors
influence trust and trustworthiness. I emphasize the importance of the fairness of legal
and political institutions, and argue that corruption and inequality, in particular
skewness, generate a sense of unfairness and erode social trust (generalized interpersonal
trust). Specifically, my ―fairness explanation‖ for cross-societal variation in social trust
is contrasted with the ―similarity explanation‖ that posits homogeneity of society —such
as ethnic and income homogeneity— critically determines the level of social trust
(Alesina and La Ferrara 2002). I propose that the negative effect of inequality on social
trust is due to sense of unfairness rather than sense of dissimilarity.
My study of adverse impact of inequality and corruption on social trust has very
important research and policy implications. According to recent research, social trust
reduces transaction costs and thus contributes to economic growth, helps to solve
collective action problems, facilitates civic engagement, and leads to better functioning
government (Putnam 1993, 2000; Fukuyama 1995; Knack and Keefer 1997; La Porta et
al. 1997). Hence, if my hypothesis of the negative effect of corruption and inequality on
social trust proves to be true, it will provide a potentially powerful explanation as to why
inequality and corruption are harmful to economic growth and social development.
Although many studies found a negative effect of corruption and inequality on
economic development, theoretical accounts for why inequality and corruption inhibit
development are weak. For example, some studies proposed that inequality inhibits
economic growth by increasing inefficient redistribution (Alesina and Rodrik 1994;
Persson and Tabellini 1994), but recent empirical findings show that higher inequality is
associated with lower redistribution (Iversen and Soskice 2002). My study suggests that
inequality and corruption hinder economic and social development by eroding social
trust.
Figure I. 1. Hypothesized Causal Relationships between Inequality, Corruption, Social
Trust, and Human Development
Inequality Corruption
Distrust
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