抄録
In this paper, we focused on trust as one of the factors of social capital, and examined its generating processes by comparing two main theoretical approaches of trust — the Emancipation Theory of Trust and the Reduction Approach. The former theory states that creation of general trust will be undermined when commitment relations with specific others are strong, whereas the latter approach states that strength of commitment relations with specific others provides the basis for nurturing general trust. First we examined the relationship between city size (supposedly an indicator of the strength of committed relations) and the level of general trust using data from two social surveys conducted in Japan. The result of the analysis showed no correlation between city size and the level of general trust. Then we performed structural equation modeling to explore the relationships between a wider variety of capitals, social resources and general trust. The results of the analyses show that general trust is nurtured when it is based on relations of trust with specific people. In other words, the result is diametrically opposed to the Emancipation Theory of Trust in that it implies that placing a high priority on existing relationships with people fosters accumulation of general trust and therefore of social capital.
