European Sociological Review - current issue

Educational Expansion and Interest in Politics in Temporal and Cross-cultural Perspective: A Comparison of West Germany and Switzerland

Hadjar, A., Schlapbach, F. — 2009-05-19

Interest in politics is a prerequisite for political participation and political engagement. The promotion of political engagement and the education of citizens to become politically mature were basic concerns of educational reforms in the 1960s. This article examines whether educational expansion since then has had an impact on citizens’ political interest. The effects of education, age, period, and cohort on political interest are analysed simultaneously. A cross-cultural perspective is included by comparing these effects in Switzerland, a direct democracy that provides its people with extensive opportunities to participate, and West Germany, a representative democracy with less such opportunities. The data base consists of cumulated data sets (ALLBUS, UNIVOX). Results show that there is a robust effect of education: the more educated are more politically interested. The younger generation is not, as is often suggested, more distant from politics. Taking into account their higher educational level, these younger cohorts show the same level of political interest as the older cohorts did at the same age.

Measuring Once Twice: An Evaluation of Recalling Attitudes in Survey Research

Jaspers, E., Lubbers, M., De Graaf, N. D. — 2009-05-19

We compare retrospective attitudinal accounts that were gathered in 2006 to the contemporaneous attitudes people had in 1995 towards euthanasia, homosexuality, and the presence of migrants. We study the usefulness of recalled attitudes for descriptive purposes on the individual level, as well as on the aggregate level, and the value of statistically modelling change with recalled data. We show (i) how accurate retrospective accounts are, (ii) respondents with which characteristics are more accurate in recollecting their 1995 attitude, and (iii) whether causal inferences with recalled accounts of the 1995 attitudes lead to similar results compared to the use of the contemporaneous accounts of the 1995 attitudes. We found evidence for a strong consistency bias, as well as an aggregate trend bias. Furthermore, almost no categories of respondents turned out to make better recollections, except for those who claimed to be more certain. For making causal inferences, recalled attitudes seem promising, as we found few significant differences between the use of recalled attitudes and contemporaneous attitudes in our causal models. This contribution offers important clues for future survey researchers who wish to make use of recalled attitudes.

Dynamics of Interethnic Contact: A Panel Study of Immigrants in the Netherlands

Martinovic, B., van Tubergen, F., Maas, I. — 2009-05-19

In contrast to previous research on interethnic contact, which is static in nature, this article provides a dynamic analysis. The aim is to explain individuals’ changes in interethnic contact over time by considering relevant time-constant and time-varying characteristics. We investigate the effects of these characteristics measured at time one (t₁) on the change in interethnic contact between t₁ and time two (t₂), thereby providing better estimates of causal relationships. A theory of preferences, opportunities, and third parties is used for identifying potential predictors of interethnic contact. The hypotheses are tested with panel data collected among Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese, and Antillean immigrants in the Netherlands. The findings show that static research provides good estimates for time-constant characteristics, but it tends to overestimate the role of time-varying characteristics. Moreover, while education, language proficiency, low concentration of immigrants in the neighbourhood, and a native partner clearly lead to the development of more interethnic contact over time, there is indication that these characteristics might just as well be consequences of such contact.

Social Capital and Social Class in Europe: The Role of Social Networks in Social Stratification

Pichler, F., Wallace, C. — 2009-05-19

Social capital has become a much researched concept and there has been much theoretical speculation about unequal access to it. However, the cross-national empirical analysis of social capital in relation to social stratification and social inequality is lacking. In this article, we explore the relationship between social stratification and social capital across 27 European countries using the Eurobarometer (EB) 62.2 (N = 27,000) carried out in autumn 2004. Through the use of statistical modelling we are able to determine the extent to which individual characteristics, including occupational position and education, are associated with different measures of social capital and to set this within a cross-national context. We find that social stratification is an important element in understanding social capital both at a country and at an individual level. Upper layers of society have higher levels of social capital, especially through associational networks (formal social capital), although informal contacts were not so clearly stratified by class. Countries with high levels of inequality magnified these differences between classes, giving the upper classes further advantages. Patterns of social capital, therefore, tend to reflect or even perpetuate the stratification patterns of the society.

Wishes or Constraints? Mothers' Labour Force Participation and its Motivation in Switzerland

Ernst Stahli, M., Le Goff, J.-M., Levy, R., Widmer, E. — 2009-05-19

The aim of this article is to estimate the impact of various factors related to role conflict theory and preference theory on the reduction of women's labour force participation after their transition to parenthood. Objective and subjective dimensions of women's labour force participation are assessed. The empirical test is based on a survey of couples with children in Switzerland. Results show that compared to structural factors associated with role conflict reduction, preferences have little impact on mothers’ labour force participation, but explain a good deal of their frustration if the factual situation does not correspond to their wishes. Structural factors, such as occupation, economic resources, childcare, and an urban environment, support mothers’ labour force participation, whereas active networks and a home centred lifestyle preference help them to cope with frustrations.

Women Returners and Potential Returners: Employment Profiles and Labour Market Opportunities--A Case Study of the United Kingdom

Tomlinson, J., Olsen, W., Purdam, K. — 2009-05-19

Women who have previously left the labour market to have children or to care for a family member represent a large proportion of the present and potential workforce. This article innovatively links data on women's education with employers’ skill needs and market wage rates to map the different circumstances of women returners in the United Kingdom. We explore whether there is a clustering of women returners in low-wage occupations and how this group can be differentiated. The United Kingdom is a valuable case as it has one of the highest rates of part-time work in Europe. We find that women returners experience high levels of occupational segregation and that these patterns are intensified when they work part-time. Thus, when women returners work part-time, they have limited occupational choice. Rigidities in the design of full- and part-time jobs have led to many women opting for part-time jobs in occupational areas for which they are over-qualified. Additionally, we argue that UK women returners and potential returners have been overlooked in government and sector skill council training agendas. We conclude by commenting on the lack of diversification of part-time work and provide insights for policy makers with respect to the labour market, women returners and potential returners.

Housework and Gender Inequality in European Countries

Voicu, M., Voicu, B., Strapcova, K. — 2009-05-19

The article focuses on the impact of religion and technological developments on the sharing of domestic work in European countries. Religious beliefs and practices have a significant impact on gender roles, as those who are more religious are more likely to support traditional gender work division. Some religions are more likely to encourage traditional family patterns, with the Christian Orthodox tradition having the most conservative views on gender roles, while Protestants are the most liberal. On the other hand, technological development has a direct impact on housework, by reducing the total amount of time dedicated to the domestic chores and by increasing the women's involvement in the formal labour market. Previous studies have provided explanations based either on relative resources theory, gender ideology or by combining them with some countries characteristics such as welfare regime or gender equality, when predicting a partner's contribution to chores. Using multi-level regression models, we will test the effect of country's level of technological development and of religious orientation on housework division in 24 European countries. The analysis reveals the importance of country's technological development, religious culture, and individual religious beliefs.

Change over Time in the Intergenerational Transmission of Social Disadvantage

Wiborg, O. N., Hansen, M. N. — 2009-05-19

A major goal of social democratic welfare states has been to reduce the impact of social origin on the life chances of individuals. If the universalistic and egalitarian policies of these states were successful, we would expect the effect of social origin on social disadvantage to decline across cohorts. We study the impact of parental income during childhood and adolescence on four forms of social disadvantage in Norway. These are receipt of social welfare assistance, unemployment, low educational attainment, and becoming a teenage mother. The data consists of a maximum of 30 complete birth cohorts. Our results indicate that there is a systematic impact of parental income at all levels of the income distribution. Those originating in the poorest families do not stand out as a marginal group. The prevalence of youth employment, teenage motherhood, and low educational attainment decreases during the period we study, whereas receipt of welfare benefits is more stable over time. If we focus on relative inequality, however, intergenerational transmission of social disadvantage does not decline over time. The impact of parental income is rather stable or even slightly increasing.

Andreas Diekmann, Klaus Eichner, Peter Schmidt and Thomas Voss (Eds.): Rational Choice: Theoretische Analysen und Empirische Resultate

Kroneberg, C. — 2009-05-19