Population
In order to explain the relationship between trust and economic equality, the understanding of four factors is unnecessary, which include the social ties or social systems, assumptions on social relations, disagreements over social resources, and the opportunity cost of time. Studies confirm that inequality is a determinant of trust whereby individuals living in a highly stratified society tend to mistrust each other, and tensions are always high as compared to people living in a less stratified society that believe in what their friends do.
This means that a study on the poor or the underprivileged, as well as the rich, is critical in understanding the interplay between the two variables. To understand the relationship, a close analysis of social and economic factors is important, but an understanding of political factors is essential as well. Based on this, the views of political leaders and those holding key positions in government will be sampled to understand their standpoints.
A debate has always existed in government touching on distributive justice. A high level of income inequalities is the major source of mistrust in many societies (Rothstein and Uslaner 53). As society moves from traditional to modern, the level of trust goes down because of the adoption of scientific methods of management and a change in an interaction where people tend to formalize their relationships.
In capitalistic societies, the levels of trust are very low because of high-income inequalities, but societies that adopt socialism and communism have high levels of trust, implying that some factors influence the high rates of mistrust growing in capitalistic societies. The sampling technique employed is stratified because it allows each group to be represented effectively in the final sample.
Ethical Analysis
Possible ethical considerations that may arise through this study consist of the following:
- The potential for unintentional plagiarism through the verbatim lifting of information, arguments, and points of view from the researched source material.
- The use of unsubstantiated information taken from unverifiable or nonacademic resources.
- The use of a biased viewpoint on issues that may inadvertently result in an alteration of the questionnaire results.
- Presentation of data without sufficient corroborating evidence or a lack of citations.
- Falsifying the results of the research for the benefit of the initial assumptions of the study.
- Using views and ideas without giving due credit to the original source.
Ethics refers to the appropriateness of your behavior in relation to the rights of those who become the subject of your work or are affected by it. In addition to seeking approval from the doctoral thesis board, a letter of consent will be sent to the head of the program to request individual indulgence and approval in conducting the study. Mailings will be sent to the individual institutions, agencies, businesses, etc., explaining the main objective of the study and requesting their consent for participation.
Further communication will proceed via e-mail between those who agree to take part in the survey and the researcher to ensure that all individuals understand the requirements for the study. I will also take time to elaborate on the rights of participants during the study process, including the right to informed consent and the right to confidentiality. By addressing these concerns through guidelines on proper ethics and research, it is expected that few ethical concerns will need to be addressed.
Validity is a measurement that is used to describe a measure or instrument that correctly reflects the variable or phenomena it is intended to evaluate, thus reinforcing the conclusions, assumptions, and propositions made from the analysis of data. Internal validity, which denotes the soundness of a study or investigation, will be achieved through the establishment of a framework for the application of effective sampling techniques and employing a validated and reliable survey schedule for the proposal of data collection. The same procedures in combination with the recruitment of representative sample size will be used to achieve external validity, thus ensuring that the study findings can be generalized to other settings.
Operational Concepts
- Inequality: Refers to differences in earnings, which brings about economic differences among classes. The term is understood in social and economic terms, but both are interrelated since people holding positions of influence in economic matters have high social standings since their culture is always respected. The term refers to the gap between the rich and the poor in society.
- Economic development: efforts of any society to establish policies that facilitate the standards of living
- Trust: Refers to a concept that tests the integrity of people, potency, and guarantee. Moreover, it establishes the consistency, sincerity, and efficiency of an individual or something.
- Social justice: Entails the capacity of a group of people to convene their needs through the established means. The concept is mainly related to the idea of liberalists. The concept might also mean the appropriate administration of laws that conform to the natural rules of justice, which suggest that human beings have certain indispensable rights. For instance, each person has the right to life. In modern society, people have various freedoms and rights, including the right to equal access to economic opportunities, including equality in the labor market.
- Capitalism: is a modern economic system related to liberalism that insists on private ownership of property. Observes that the government should never interfere with the market logic, but instead, it has to play its important role of providing an enabling environment.
Indicators
Discussion of Findings
The review of the literature and an analysis of the collected data confirmed that inequality has a positive correlation to trust. When people cooperate to achieve collective goals, trust is said to exist, but the reverse is true in cases of noncooperation. The literature collected and reviewed confirmed that the existing mode of production is the major cause of conflicts that disrupts the trust between the rich and the poor. In Nordic countries where the government ensures that each person enjoys life, the levels of trust are high, but the case is different in purely capitalistic societies, such as those of Britain and the US, where capitalism is adopted fully.
Works Cited
Rothstein, Bo and Eric Uslaner. “All for all, corruption, and social trust”. World Politics, 58.1 (2005): 41-72. Print.