Some people argue that people are unhappy with the state of American economy and society because of things like slow economic growth and rising inequality. I have had several posts arguing against that idea--this is the most recent and this is another one. People are not especially discontented with their economic situation, or the state of the nation, or life in general. However, confidence in most American institutions has declined since the 1970s. Is that because people have become more negative about elites, or certain elites, or people in general?
Since the 1970s, the Gallup Poll has asked "Please tell me how you would rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in these different fields -- very high, high, average, low or very low? How about.." The list of occupations changes--forty-three different ones have been included, some only once but others as many as 35 times. They include some true elites (e. g., Senators), some professions that cover a wide range (e. g., lawyers, clergy), and some ordinary jobs (e. g., auto mechanics). There's a lot of information there, so I'll break my discussion into several parts. One of the first thing I did was to fit a time trend to each occupation. 27 were positive (that is, in the direction of higher honesty and ethics), and 10 of those were statistically significant at the 5% level. Fourteen were negative, and ten of those were statistically significant. (Two of them were asked just once, so no trend could be estimated). The biggest statistically significant upward trends were: nursing home operators, auto mechanics, funeral home operators, labor union leaders, and medical doctors. That's a diverse group--I can't think of anything that they have in common. The largest statistically significant declines were state governors, stockbrokers, members of Congress, TV reporters, and bankers. Those could all be regarded as elite occupations.
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