Herreros F. (2015) Ties that bind: Family relationships and social trust. Rationality and Society 27(3): 334-357

Abstract. There have been two main arguments concerning the effects of family relationships on social trust. The first claims that the intensity of the family relationship reduces the capacity of the family members to interact in the outside world, where social uncertainty prevails. The second considers that trust inside the family spills over into trust in strangers. There is a corollary to the first argument: intense family relationships, by reducing social trust, affect community development negatively.