20.500.12556/RUL-179413 Interest through social involvement the impact of social trust and collective identification on political interest Political interest is the basis for an individual’s informed and consistent engagement with politics, making it essential to understand its origins. In this article we focus on a largely understudied factor: social involvement, which is conceptualized in terms of social trust and collective identification, both reflecting individuals’ attachment to others. The primary aim is to explore the causal mechanisms through which social involvement shapes political interest. We propose three explanatory mechanisms formulated in terms of social empathy, common good, and political efficacy. Drawing on data from the 2017 European Values Survey, our analysis provides robust empirical support for the common good and empathy mechanisms. The findings suggest that social trust and collective identification enhance political interest by reinforcing the perceived value and significance of political involvement. The efficacy argument, however, received no support. Overall, the results underscore the significant role of trust in unfamiliar others and cosmopolitan identification. political interest importance of politics social involvement social trust collective identification true false true Angleški jezik Ni določen Članek v reviji 2026-02-13 07:43:50 2026-02-13 07:43:57 2026-03-21 04:43:45 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 Str. 376–402 no. 5 Vol. 55 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 323.2 0020-7659 10.1080/00207659.2025.2545684 268339715 Interest_through_social_involvement__the_impact_of_social_trust_and_collective_identification_on_political_interest.pdf Interest_through_social_involvement__the_impact_of_social_trust_and_collective_identification_on_political_interest.pdf 1 99D443536C2126530CA1B7E0F76BA30C 6d2ad2d97d0a9968514c4f0aeb30842403d9bf04aca1498068ddda219b662143 446b2bc7-243e-11f1-b0ab-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=230960 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00207659.2025.2545684 0 005be1be-1642-11f1-a1ba-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=229145 Fakulteta za družbene vede 0 0 0