INTERCULTURAL CONTACT AND SOCIAL TRUST A Quantitative Analysis on the Effect of High School Exchange on Social Trust

Abstract: The aim of this thesis was to investigate the effect of intercultural contact on social trust. The thesis focused on high school exchanges with AFS Intercultural in Finland. The research question was Do intercultural experiences affect the level of social trust? This thesis used the theoretical framework of interethnic contact theory and based on it proposed a hypothesis: If students have done a high school exchange, then students will express more generalized social trust. Intercultural contact was expected to reduce prejudice and increase social trust, through making the unknown other more familiar. To find an answer to this question, the study employed a natural experimental setting and analyzed data from a survey conducted for the purposes of this thesis. The sample comprised of two groups of Finnish high school students: one, that participated in a high school exchange program during academic years 2015–16 and 2016–17, and the other, that was planning to participate during the academic year 2017–18. The data were analyzed with OLS regression analysis. The result of the study can be summarized in three main points. First, the hypothesis of this thesis did not get support from the data used, high school exchange did not increase social trust among the sample of this study. Second, contact theory received partial support based on this data since close personal contact with immigrants was associated with higher social trust. Third, the results gave support for the cultural perspective of social trust that sees trust as stable trait.