Trust as an Indicator of Social Capital: Study Opportunities in the Russian Federation

The article discusses theoretical approaches to the study of social capital. Conceptualization of social capital always includes “trust”, which can be interpreted from the perspective of various sociological paradigms. By viewing trust as recognition of obligations and expectations as well as their concentration, we move to the level of strategies analysis of social agents. Subjective assessment of trust in authorities, institutions, organizations, movements, associations and commissions shows the extent to which social agents perceive the results of various social institutions’ functioning, how they evaluate them and whether they rely on them. This, in turn, influences the chosen strategies of social agents in various fields of social space.