‘I trust my mom the most’: Trust Patterns of Contemporary Youth

This chapter examines the effects of changed social relations during the period of transition on the extent and structure of trust among young people in Slovenia.1 We proceed from the assumption that a high level of generalised trust is of crucial importance in motivating young people to participation and civility. Yet at the same time we find a low level of generalised trust among young people in Slovenia and a contraction of trust confined to people from the personal sphere. We discuss the negative consequences which these circumstances have on young people’s ability to cope with the hyper-complex social conditions of the modern world and for their social and political citizenship.