The confidence for swedish authorities before and during the pandemic Covid-19

Abstract

Trust has a fundamental importance in a society. Confidence for community institutions such as the government, the healthcare system, the police authority, the media and the public health agency is an important part of the functioning of society. This study aims to examine the confidence, in the institutions mentioned above, in Sweden and how this may differ in a time of crisis due to Covid-19 where these institutions are really put to the test. In this way the comparative part has emerged to see differences in confidence for various authorities among different groups of society. This based on Robert Putnam and Bo Rothstein´s theories of social capital. Both Putnam and Rothstein describe the concept of social capital as an important element of trust in society. Confidence for community institutions is examined from two aspects: general confidence and possible change in confidence during a crisis. The analyzes control for gender, education and income. This is a qualitative study based on self-collected data material and taken material from Kantar Sifo. Developed hypotheses have then been tested using a quantitative strategy in the form of linear regression analysis. The result shows that there are some differences in trust depending on community group. The result also shows mostly unchanged confidence in all tested institutions except for the media coverage where trust is affected. This aspect has been highlighted based on Putnam, Pharr and Russell's theory about trust, which states that the media coverage plays the biggest role solo when it comes to the perceived crisis management. The analysis states that that there is a little or no change in confidence for the authorities in Sweden due to Covid-19.