scholarly journals How Far From Meritocracy? A Cross-National Longitudinal Analysis of European Countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 237802311985882
Author(s):  
Marta Kołczyńska
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Occupational Status ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Empirical Distributions ◽  
Lower Status ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Cross National

This figure describes the distance from meritocracy in 36 European countries between 2002 and 2017. Following Krauze and Slomczynski, the author defines meritocratic allocation of individuals by education to occupational status groups as a situation when more educated persons do not have jobs with lower status than less educated persons. Using data from the European Social Survey rounds 1 to 8, for each country-round, the author identifies the theoretical meritocratic joint distribution of education and occupational status, as well as the theoretical distribution under statistical independence, and measures the distance of empirical distributions to these two ideal situations. The author finds that the distance to meritocracy varies substantially across European countries, with some countries being closer to allocation under independence than to meritocratic allocation. In terms of cross-country differences, the distance to meritocracy is smaller in postcommunist countries than in Western Europe, with some convergence observable over time.

scholarly journals Homicide clearance in Western Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marieke Liem ◽  
Karoliina Suonpää ◽  
Martti Lehti ◽  
Janne Kivivuori ◽  
Sven Granath ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Clearance Rates ◽  
Homicide Rates ◽  
Coding Schemes ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Homicide Clearance ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Event Based

This study provides an overview of homicide clearance in four West European countries: Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. Using data from the European Homicide Monitor, employing similar definitions and uniform coding schemes, this study allowed for unique cross-country comparisons in factors influencing differences in homicide clearance rates. Findings based on homicides occurring in the period 2009–14 revealed overall low homicide rates in all countries, with a wide variety in homicide clearance rates, ranging from 77 percent in the Netherlands to 98 percent in Finland. Results further showed that both event-based as well as victim-based characteristics significantly influenced the likelihood of homicide clearance, suggesting that homicide clearance rates can, for a large part, be attributed to the prevalent types of homicide in each of these European countries.

scholarly journals Conservation motivation, social equality and left-right ideological preferences in Western and Eastern Europe

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Márton Hadarics
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Great Part ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Social Equality ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship

We investigated how attitudes towards social equality can influence the relationship between conservation motivation (or openness) and personal ideological preferences on the left-right dimension, and how this relationship pattern differs between Western and Central & Eastern European (CEE) respondents. Using data from the European Social Survey (2012) we found that individual-level of conservation motivation reduces cultural egalitarianism in both the Western European and the CEE regions, but its connection with economic egalitarianism is only relevant in the CEE region where it fosters economic egalitarianism. Since both forms of egalitarianism were related to leftist ideological preferences in Western Europe, but in the CEE region only economic egalitarianism was ideologically relevant, we concluded that the classic “rigidity of the right” phenomenon is strongly related to cultural (anti)egalitarianism in Western Europe. At the same time, conservation motivation serves as a basis for the “rigidity of the left” in the post-socialist CEE region, in a great part due to the conventional egalitarian economic views.

scholarly journals The radical right, the labour movement and the competition for the workers’ vote

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadja Mosimann ◽  
Line Rennwald ◽  
Adrian Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Non Union ◽  
Radical Right Parties ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Better Than

This article analyses the capacity of radical right parties to attract support from union members in recent elections in Western Europe. It is argued that unionized voters resist the appeals of the radical right better than non-union members. Using data from the European Social Survey 2010–2016, the article shows that union members are overall less likely to vote for the radical right than non-union members. Even though it is found that unionized working-class and middle-class voters are less likely to vote radical right than their non-unionized peers in the pooled sample, it is also observed that these subgroups of unionized voters and especially unionized working-class voters are not immune to radical right voting in all the countries analysed. The article thus indicates a growing capacity of the radical right to attract unionized working-class segments of the electorate in some countries and to directly compete with left parties for these voters.

scholarly journals Does Education Matter for the Relationship between Healthcare Use for Serious Health Problems and Well-being? A Study in 24 Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1136-1150
Author(s):  
Rania F. Valeeva
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Healthcare Use ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Multiple Regression Models ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cross National

Previous research has shown that the well-being of people in Western societies varies consistently. To understand these differences, we focus on the relationship between healthcare use and well-being, since previous research has shown that poor health and lack of social support reduce well-being. Based on the findings of the previous research, we hypothesize that there is a positive relationship between healthcare use and well-being, and that the strength of this relationship increases with the years of schooling. We tested these hypotheses in 24 countries using data (N = 40,249) from the European Social Survey. The data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression models. Our results indicate cross-national differences in the relationship between healthcare use for serious health problems and well-being. Moreover, they suggest that the extent of education matters for this relationship, however its influence differs across countries. Further research is needed to explain these cross-national differences.

scholarly journals Patterns of Family Life Courses in Europe – between Standardisation and DiversityA Cross-national Comparison of Family Trajectories and Life Course Norms in European Countries

1970 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Hofäcker ◽  
Jana Chaloupková
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Family Formation ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Family Patterns ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Demographic Behaviour ◽  
Cross National ◽  
Family Trajectories

Throughout recent decades, a gradual shift away from an early contracted and simple life course pattern which dominated in the 1950s and 1960s to late protracted and more complex patterns could be observed within European countries. Yet, despite multiple cross-national similarities in the changes of individual life course patterns, there exist considerable differences in the form and frequency of these changes. We argue that one possible way of better understanding these variations is to examine the connection between family formation choices and value orientations. Using data from the European Social Survey 2006 we empirically investigate to what extent the family trajectories have changed across generations and how these practiced family trajectories correspond to cross-cohort changes in socially established norms about family transitions. Our results corroborate the assumption of an increasing restandardisation of family lives: Even though family trajectories have become more turbulent involving more stages and stage changes for the younger generation, “deviations” from traditional family patterns (such as unmarried cohabitation) are turning into majority behaviour, i.e. into a “new standard”. Contrasting these trends with developments in family-related norms reveals that the liberalisation in norms appears to precede such changes in actual demographic behaviour, even though European countries differ in the degree and pace to which such normative and behavioural changes have yet taken place.

Psychological aspects of well-being and socio-demographic values: results from European Social Survey

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 112-122
Author(s):  
Andrius Smitas ◽  
Loreta Gustainiene
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Well Being ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Psychological Aspects ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Single Item ◽  
Survey Round ◽  
Socio Demographic Factors

The aim of the study is to explore links between happiness, optimism, resilience and meaningfulness, and socio-demographic factors in 25 European countries. Research methods. Experts-generated single-item questions from European Social Survey round 6 were used to assess happiness, optimism, resilience, meaningfulness in life. Results. Greater number of years of completed education relates to higher scores of happiness, optimism, meaningfulness and resilience in most European countries. However, in Western Europe and Scandinavian countries age does not relate or positively relates with psychological aspects of well-being, however in most Post-Soviet countries this relationship is negative. Conclusions. Happiness, optimism, meaningfulness and resilience in most European countries were related to age and years of completed education with no specific differences between regions.   Keywords: optimism; resilience; happiness; meaningfulness; demographics      

scholarly journals Immigrant Political Participation in Europe

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-554
Author(s):  
David Pettinicchio ◽  
Robert de Vries
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Action ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Citizenship Status ◽  
Using Data

This paper compares participation in different forms of political action between natives, immigrants and non-citizen immigrants using data from thirteen European countries across six waves of the European Social Survey. The authors highlight problems associated with previous categorizations of political action, and find that when political action is disaggregated and relative participation between groups is examined, that immigrants’ patterns of participation are not substantially different from those of natives. When comparing citizen immigrants to non-citizen immigrants, previous research has suggested that citizenship acts as a “ticket” to non-institutional, unconventional, confrontational forms of political action. The authors’ findings instead suggest a more complicated relationship between immigrant/citizenship status and preferences for political action since citizenship may facilitate participation in both so-called institutional and extra-institutional activities depending on the context of action.

scholarly journals Prawica, lewica i postawy wobec imigrantów. Poglądy Polaków na imigrację i ich dynamika na tle trendów europejskich

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (4 (178)) ◽  
pp. 239-264
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Andrejuk
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Central Eastern Europe ◽  
Political Left ◽  
The One ◽  
Political Right

Political right, political left, and attitudes towards immigrants. Poles’ opinions of immigration and their dynamics against the backdrop of European trends The aim of the analysis is to demonstrate how individual convictions and opinions on immigration are connected with a subjective political identity, defined by one’s position on the left or right side of the political scale. The article focuses on the case of Poland, examining it in the context and in comparison to the processes taking place in other European countries. The analysis refers to the data of the European Social Survey (nine waves from 2002 to 2018). The results reveal that in Western European countries anti-immigrant attitudes are more connected with self-identification as political right, while in Central-Eastern Europe such correlation either does not exist, or is weaker and more rare. Poland is in an earlier phase of the migration cycle (it has small and relatively new immigrant populations), and the institutionalization of political cleavages within the party system is less advanced than in Western Europe. These factors lead to the situation where self-identification as political right on the one hand and scepticism towards immigration on the other are not correlated. Moreover, the results show that during the period under study, voters of the main political parties in Poland showed increasing support for the presence of immigrants in the country’s economy, while the influence of foreigners on the country’s culture became a polarizing question. Among Poles who are sceptical about immigration, the perceived cultural threat is articulated more strongly than the economic threat.

scholarly journals Left and Right Political Orientation in Eastern and Western Europe

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Dominik Wojcik ◽  
Aleksandra Cislak ◽  
Peter Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Economic Liberalism ◽  
European Values ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Auto Identification ◽  
Eastern And Western Europe

The left-right political auto-identification has been used widely in the socio-political research for interpreting and organizing political attitudes and opinions. In this paper we analyse whether the meaning of the left-right orientation is the same in Eastern and Western Europe after the transformation in 1989. Using data from two big European survey programmes – European Social Survey & European Values Study – we show that while citizens’ support for economic liberalism is positively related to their left-right political auto-identification, citizens’ support for cultural liberalism is negatively related to it. Importantly, however, we also found evidence for the regional diversity hypothesis, which shows this pattern was more prominent among the citizens of Western European countries than among the citizens of Eastern European countries. Presented results confirm the specificity of Eastern Europe when it comes to relations between political auto-identification and other beliefs linked to it traditionally and imply that the concept of left-right political auto-identification cannot be transferred mechanically between Eastern and Western Europe.

The Immigrant-Native Gap in Subjective Well-Being in Western European Countries: Assessing the Role of Social Capital

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 458-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mesay A. Tegegne ◽  
Jennifer L. Glanville
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Well Being ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Immigrant Integration ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Using Data

Immigrants in Western Europe typically exhibit lower levels of subjective well-being than their native-born counterparts. We argue that because of disruptions in social networks and linguistic and cultural barriers to immigrant integration, social capital is a likely source of immigrant-native inequality in well-being. Using data from the first five waves of the European Social Survey, we find that social capital, measured by several indicators of informal social connections and generalized trust, explains more than half of the non-Western immigrant-native gap in subjective well-being that remains after adjusting for the standard predictors of well-being. Social capital also significantly reduces the smaller Western immigrant-native gap. In addition, we examine potential differential returns to social capital and find that immigrants and natives benefit equally from social capital.

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