New Zealand is one of those small, predominantly Protestant countries which is known for having a high level of trust. This is often reflected in those honesty tests reported in the media, where someone leaves a wallet in a public place to see if it will be pocketed or handed into the police.
A few weeks ago UMR Research conducted a survey of public opinion where people over 18 were asked the question:
“Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you cannot be careful in dealing with people?”
Nationally about 56 percent of people said most people can be trusted, with 39 percent agreeing with the later view that you can’t be too careful.
However, there were significant differences according to class, income, ethnicity and region.
Among Maori and Pacific Islanders, 54 percent said you can’t be too careful in dealing with people.
There was also a marked difference by income and occupation, with 69 percent of those earning $50,000 a year saying most people can be trusted, while only 45 percent of blue-collar workers and those earning less than $30, 000 a year agreed.
South Islanders were also more trusting, with 60 percent agreeing that most people can be trusted, as opposed to 55 percent of North Islanders.
Among the main centres, Wellingtonians were the most trusting (62 percent) and Aucklanders the least trusting (53 percent). As the capital city, Wellington has a high proportion of middle class white liberals, which suggests the country’s SWPLs may have a higher degree of trust than other urbanites.
Generally it seems New Zealanders have a pretty rational view of whether people can be trusted, given the proclivities of the type of people they are most likely to come across in their social circles. A blue collar person for example, is more likely to be exposed to members of the criminal underclass than a white collar professional and so has more reason to be less trusting.
A common anomaly though, is that while people from low socio-economic backgrounds tend to be more suspicious of others, this often doesn’t seem to carry through into their everyday behaviour.
From my observations, someone from a low socio-economic background is more likely to do dumb things like tell someone else their pin number while drunk, engage in risky sexual behaviour, or fall for money-making scams than a generally more trusting middle-class person.
Posted by mikecourtman 