Trust, Race, and Education in the United States, 1972–2024

Cary Wu, York University

The critical role of social trust (the belief that most people can be trusted) in shaping racial disparities in education is well recognized but remains empirically underexplored. Drawing on data from the General Social Survey (GSS 1972-2024), I use Age-Period-Cohort-Interaction (APC-I) models to investigate how race and trust interacts to shape age, period, and cohort patterns in educational attainment both within and between Blacks and Whites. My analysis generates three novel insights. First, Age Effect: Trust strongly correlates with continued educational gains during early adulthood across all cohorts, with the effect especially pronounced among Black Americans. Second, Period Effect: While the Black–White educational gap has persisted, it has modestly narrowed over time, driven in part by a sharper decline in trust among White Americans. Third, Cohort Effect: Despite generational improvements in education for all groups, yet disparities persist: low-trust Black individuals consistently experience the lowest educational outcomes, while high-trust Blacks have surpassed low-trust Whites in recent cohorts. These patterns provide insights into how trust and social capital function as mechanisms in the reproduction of educational inequality over the life course and across generations.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 33. Trust in Uncertain Times: Substantive and Methodological Reflections