European Sociological Review - recent issues

Flexible Employment and Inequality in Europe

Barbieri, P. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:12:18 PST

Socio-economic Risks of Atypical Employment Relationships: Evidence from the German Labour Market

Giesecke, J. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:12:18 PST

In this article, I examine the impact of atypical working arrangements on both objective and subjective dimensions of social inequality. The analysed types of atypical employment are fixed-term contracts, temporary agency work, and part-time employment, respectively. It is argued that these working arrangements are not homogeneous with respect to their socio-economic consequences, because they modify different aspects of the standard employment relationship. In order to investigate the effects of these types of employment, I use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel 2001–2005 on non-self-employed respondents. The results show that fixed-term contracts and agency work (being forms of external flexibility) have more severe negative socio-economic consequences than part-time employment (being a form of internal flexibility). Given that weak labour market groups face an increased risk of holding temporary jobs, the empirical findings clearly indicate the substantial impact of atypical employment on the extent and the structure of social inequality.

The Effects of Non-Employment in Early Work-Life on Subsequent Employment Chances of Individuals in The Netherlands

Luijkx, R., Wolbers, M. H. J. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:12:19 PST

In this article, the effects of non-employment in early work-life on subsequent employment chances of individuals in the Netherlands are examined. A main concern is whether the experience of non-employment in the beginning of the career (permanently) damages a worker's later employment opportunities (that is, the likelihood of exit out of and re-entry into employment). The empirical analysis is based on five retrospective life-history surveys collected in the Netherlands in the period 1992–2003, with full information on employment histories of individuals. The analytic sample consists of 7,761 respondents, who left education since the 1950s. The results of the empirical analysis first of all show that the duration of non-employment in the first 3 years after leaving education (and not the number of non-employment spells in that period) increases the likelihood of exiting employment in the subsequent time period (up until 15 years after leaving education). This finding holds for both men and women. Second, a negative duration effect of non-employment on the likelihood of re-entering employment after a job loss is found, but for men only. These results imply that non-employment in early work-life indeed has a scarring effect on subsequent employment chances of individuals in the Dutch labour market.

Fixed-Term Contracts at Labour Market Entry in West Germany: Implications for Job Search and First Job Quality

Gebel, M. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:12:19 PST

Fixed-term contracts have become very relevant in the transition from school to work. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) for the period 1984–2006, this article analyses differences in the timing of receiving a fixed-term contract or a permanent contract throughout the duration of first-job search and whether fixed-term contracts are associated with lower initial wages. Competing risk duration models reveal that school leavers initially receive more often permanent contracts but that a certain proportion also accepts temporary jobs. For transitions to both fixed-term and permanent contracts, we find that the longer the time spent searching for a job, the lower the transition probability to a job. The negative duration dependence effect is even more pronounced for fixed-term employment. Comparing labour market entrants with similar individual and job characteristics using propensity score matching techniques show that entrants earn significantly less in fixed-term jobs compared to permanent employment. Wage penalties are slightly larger for those who actually choose fixed-term contracts in their first job, whereas randomly allocated job entrants would suffer lower wage losses. Especially graduates from tertiary education suffer high initial wage losses in fixed-term contracts.

Labour Market Flexibilization and its Consequences in Italy

Barbieri, P., Scherer, S. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:12:19 PST

Labor market ‘flexibilization’ or ‘deregulation’ is seen by many as a requirement for economic and occupational growth. As one route towards more flexibility, many European countries increased the so-called atypical or non-standard forms of employment while leaving the regulation of existing employment relations largely unchanged. In Italy, this led to a strong segmentation of the labour market. As employment is the only connection to a series of welfare entitlements, this praxis might lead to strong cleavages in the society. In this paper, we investigate the ongoing process of labour market ‘flexibilization’ and its consequences for individual labour market careers and social inequalities and ask whether the deregulation has fulfilled the expectations attached to it. In detail, we study the entries into the marginal labour market and the consequences for employment careers of these forms of ‘new’ flexible employment. Empirical findings based on Indagine Longitudinale sulle Famiglie Italiane data cast doubts on the effectiveness of the specific form of market deregulation in Italy and confirm strong long-term implications of atypical employment episodes for career chances.

Ethnic Residential Segregation, Social Contacts, and Anti-Minority Attitudes in European Societies

Semyonov, M., Glikman, A. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:12:19 PST

Ethnic residential segregation has long been viewed as a major structural mechanism through which ethnic and racial minorities are denied equal access to opportunities, rewards, and amenities. Residential segregation also decreases opportunities for establishment and development of social ties and contacts between members of ethnic minorities and members of the majority population. This article examines the complex inter-relations between ethnic residential segregation, inter-ethnic social contacts and attitudes toward minorities within the context of European societies. It specifically examines the following hypotheses: first, ethnic residential segregation (i.e. residence in homogeneous all-European neighbourhoods) restricts opportunities for establishment and development of inter-ethnic social contacts; second, positive inter-ethnic contacts are likely to reduce anti-minority attitudes (i.e. perception of threat and social distance); and third, contact mediates the relations between the ethnic composition of neighbourhood of residence and anti-minority attitudes. Using data from the 2003 European Social Survey for 21 European countries a series of multi-level regression models are estimated to examine the hypotheses within a cross-national comparative framework. Although the findings generally support the theoretical expectations, they also underscore the complex ways in which patterns of ethnic residential segregation affect attitudes toward minority populations through inter-ethnic contacts. Explanations for the findings are offered and discussed in light of the theoretical expectations presented at the outset of this article.

Learning to Trust: Networks Effects Through Time

Barrera, D., van de Bunt, G. G. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:12:19 PST

This article investigates the effects of information originating from social networks on the development of interpersonal trust relations in the context of a dialysis department of a Dutch medium-sized hospital. Hypotheses on learning effects are developed from existing theories and tested using longitudinal data concerning the complete networks of trust and (informal) communication relations among employees observed at four different time points. The results support the existence of a learning mechanism operating both within dyads and through the social networks in which the dyads are embedded: actors learn to trust (or distrust) each other from their own past experience as well as from information that they receive from colleagues with whom they have regular communication.

United But Divided: Welfare Regimes and the Level and Variance in Public Support for Redistribution

Jaeger, M. M. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:12:19 PST

Previous studies find little evidence that welfare regimes affect public support for welfare state principles, policies, and programmes in any systematic way. This article argues that limitations in operational definitions of welfare regimes might explain why previous studies do not find any link between regimes and attitudes. Furthermore, the article suggests that welfare regimes should affect both mean levels of support for the welfare state and the variance in attitudes. The article develops a new conceptualization of welfare regimes based on a set of regime-type indicators measured at the country-level and latent variables models. My empirical analysis of support for redistribution across 15 countries suggests that the regime rank order (low to high) with respect to support for redistribution is Liberal, Social Democratic, and Conservative. The regime rank order with respect to the variance in support for redistribution is Liberal, Conservative, and Social Democratic. My findings give rise to a simple two-dimensional typology of regime differences in support for redistribution.

Sebastian Sattler: Plagiate in Hausarbeiten. Erklarungsmodelle mit Hilfe der Rational Choice Theorie.

Stocke, V. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:12:19 PST

Corporate Governance and Earnings Inequality in the OECD Countries 1979-2000

Sjoberg, O. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:40:20 PDT

The purpose of this article is to analyse the role of corporate governance in explaining cross-national differences and trends in earnings inequality in a sample of OECD countries between 1979 and 2000. It is argued that since corporate governance is fundamentally a question of in whose interest corporations are run, it will have important consequences for how the returns from production are distributed among the parties with a stake in the corporation. The article outlines an institutional approach to corporate governance and its cross-national variation as well as formulates a number of mechanisms whereby corporate governance may influence earnings inequality. The empirical assessment indicates that central aspects of these institutions, such as the role of the stock market in channelling capital to corporations, the extent of mergers and acquisitions, and protection of minority shareholders are all related to cross-national differences and trends in earnings inequality (as measured by the p90/p10 ratio). The conclusion is that corporate governance institutions and their respective managerial practices can make a significant contribution to our understanding of fundamental stratification processes.

What are the Reasons for Differences in Job Satisfaction across Europe? Individual, Compositional, and Institutional Explanations

Pichler, F., Wallace, C. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:40:20 PDT

This article looks at the determinants of job satisfaction in 27 European countries at both the individual and country level. Individual determinants include type of occupation, supervision responsibilities, working hours, and the assessment of various dimensions, such as intrinsic and extrinsic job characteristics. These factors already explain a large share of country-level variation which renders country differences in job satisfaction foremost the result of individual factors and the composition of the workforce. Notwithstanding this finding, some countries still have higher job satisfaction (country premium) whilst others have less job satisfaction (country penalty) once individual-level explanations are taken into account. To explain this, we considered the effects of country-level institutional factors, such as wage levels, extent of unionization, levels of unemployment and inequality, of which wage levels were the most important.

Research Note: Digital Divide Across Borders--A Cross-National Study of Adolescents' Use of Digital Technologies

Notten, N., Peter, J., Kraaykamp, G., Valkenburg, P. M. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:40:20 PDT

In this study, we analyse digital divides in terms of social inequality in digital access and use patterns from a hierarchical perspective. Using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 in 30 nations, we focus on social cleavages in mid-adolescents’ access and use of digital technologies, taking into account both individual-level and country-level influences. Our study shows that adolescents from higher socio-economic and two-parent family households are more likely to have Internet access at home. Additionally, adolescents from higher-status families use the Internet more often for informational purposes than children from lower-status families. Adolescents from single-parent are less likely to have home Internet access. Nevertheless, they use the Internet more frequently for information and communication and play computer games more often than their peers living in two-parent families. Testing simultaneously individual and country characteristics shows that a country's level of modernization can be separated into compositional and contextual effects. Overall, a country's level of modernization only affects whether digital applications are available at the family home, but not how they are used. These findings suggest that once a family has access to the Internet, the digital use patterns of their adolescent children do not differ across nations.

History, Case Studies, Statistics, and Causal Inference

Abell, P. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:40:20 PDT

The article explores the logic of the orthodox statistical model of causal inference, where many observations are required and compares it with a complementary model of Bayesian Narratives where unique events are encountered.

Labour Market, Job Opportunities, and Transitions to Self-Employment: Evidence from Switzerland from the Mid-1960s to the Late 1980s

Buchmann, M., Kriesi, I., Sacchi, S. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:40:20 PDT

In recent years, self-employment has risen in several Western countries including Switzerland. The controversial discussion of this rise is attributable to shortcomings of empirical research, namely, to the lack of systematically considering, both at the macro- and the micro-level, the push and pull factors that may account for entry into self-employment. Little is known about how macroeconomic forces together with individual-level push and pull factors shape transitions into self-employment. Even less is known about how these factors play out in occupationally segmented labour markets. This paper thus examines how the overall climate for setting up a business, individual job opportunities, and structural characteristics of labour-market positions affect transitions to self-employment in the occupationally segmented Swiss labour market. Based on two data sets, we run event history models. The Swiss Life History Study provides information on transitions into self-employment. With the Swiss Job Monitor, we construct indicators of the time-variant aggregate- and individual-level opportunities and incentives for setting up a business. Results indicate that moves into self-employment are affected both by macroeconomic conditions, individual job opportunities, and structural characteristics of the labour market position, whereby pull factors dominate at the macro level and the interplay of push and pull factors at the individual level.

Intergenerational Help and Care in Europe

Brandt, M., Haberkern, K., Szydlik, M. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:40:20 PDT

In Europe, on average, three times as many adult children occasionally help their parents with the housekeeping than do provide regular physical care. This is not surprising, considering the great differences between these two types of support. Care follows needs, whereas help tends to be given sporadically when one has the opportunity. In the familial welfare states in Southern Europe, where little professional support is available, provision of care by children is more likely—whereas parents in the north are more likely to receive help in the household or in dealing with the authorities. Logistic multi-level models enable these differences to be traced back to the availability of social and health services in the individual countries. There is a ‘crowding in’ of the help children give their parents, but a ‘crowding out’ of physical care. Overall, the results based on the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement data thus support the specialization hypothesis: professional providers take over the medically demanding and regular physical care, whereas the family is more likely to provide the less demanding, spontaneous help. Everyone does what they do best. The overall care of older people thus tends to be assured both quantitatively and qualitatively by well-developed service systems.

Do Parents Coordinate Their Work Schedules? A Comparison of Dutch, Flemish, and Italian Dual-Earner Households

Carriero, R., Ghysels, J., van Klaveren, C. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:40:20 PDT

As a consequence of the rising number of dual-earner households, many contemporary couples in Europe face two potentially conflicting job schedules when figuring out how to allocate their time over a week. In this article, we study how dual-earner couples with children organize their working time in Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands. We place working time coordination explicitly in a comparative framework to allow cross-country differences in time-scheduling mechanisms to be revealed. We define working time coordination as an act that leads to hours of paid work performed by both parents at the same moment and of which the joint nature cannot be explained by factors other than the partners’ potential to communicate on the timing of their work. Our main findings are as follows: (1) parents actively coordinate their working times in all three societies; (2) on average, Italian and Flemish dual-earner parents tend to synchronize (increase their work-time overlap), which indicates that parents aim at spending non-market time jointly; and (3) Dutch dual-earner parents tend to de-synchronize (decrease work-time overlap), which indicates that the latter tend to maximize the amount of time that at least one parent is out of the job.

Irena Kogan, Michael Gebel, and Clemens Noelke (Eds.): Europe Enlarged: A Handbook of Education, Labour, and Welfare Regimes in Central and Eastern Europe

Loveless, M. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:40:20 PDT

Loek Halman, Ronald Inglehart, Jaime Diez-Medrano, Ruud Luijkx, Alejandro Morena, and Miguel Basanez (Eds.): Changing Values and Beliefs in 85 Countries: Trends from the Values Surveys from 1981 to 2004. Volume 11

Loveless, M. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:40:20 PDT

Explaining Social Class Inequalities in Smoking: The Role of Education, Self-Efficacy, and Deprivation

Layte, R., Whelan, C. T. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:46:55 PDT

Rates of smoking have decreased dramatically in most Northern European countries over the last 50 years or so, but manual working class groups are substantially more likely to smoke daily than are the professional and managerial classes. This article examines three hypotheses about the processes producing these inequalities. The first argues that social class inequalities reflect differences across education groups in knowledge of the risks of smoking. The second suggests that the living conditions of lower social class groups leads to the development of lower self-efficacy and a lower propensity to quit smoking. The third states that smoking has a functional use among poorer individuals. This article draws upon data from the Republic of Ireland to assess these hypotheses. Our analysis provides some support for the first hypothesis in that education independently reduces the odds of a manual class person smoking relative to a non-manual by 12 per cent. The second hypothesis is not supported by the data. The third hypothesis gains the most support: measures of disadvantage and deprivation account for almost one-third of the class differential in smoking. The results suggest that smoking cessation policy should reflect the importance of social and economic context in quitting behaviour.

The Effects of Immigrant Population Size, Unemployment, and Individual Characteristics on Voting for the Vlaams Blok in Flanders 1991-1999

Rink, N., Phalet, K., Swyngedouw, M. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:46:55 PDT

This study examines the effects of contextual characteristics on exclusionary reactions. Extending explanations of anti-immigrant attitudes from group threat theory to the prediction of contextual variation in voting behaviour, we expect more voting for the anti-immigrant party Vlaams Blok with increasing immigrant population size and unemployment. We test the effects of these contextual factors, as well as individual characteristics and cross-level interactions, over time (1991–1995–1999), using multilevel analysis (i.e. binary logistic regression for three-level repeated measurement data). To this end, we used panel data that consist of pooled individual records across repeated General Election Surveys¹ in Flanders in 1991, 1995, and 1999 (N = 3,748 respondents) to which we added time-variant contextual data in 175 municipalities. As expected, immigrant population size increases people's likelihood to vote for the Vlaams Blok and this effect is curvilinear. The level of unemployment, however, does not explain the contextual variation in Vlaams Blok voting. At the individual level, people with lower occupational status and unemployed people are more likely to vote for the Vlaams Blok. In addition, a significant cross-level interaction indicates that the effect of immigrant population size on the support for the Vlaams Blok is significantly reduced among people with higher levels of education. Finally, the non-linear and conditional effects of immigrant population size are fully replicated over time.

Socio-economic Payoffs of Voluntary Association Involvement: A Dutch Life Course Study

Ruiter, S., De Graaf, N. D. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:46:55 PDT

Over the last three decades, research on occupational attainment has been extended with studies indicating the importance of social resources. We study socio-economic effects of voluntary association involvement, which is an important source of weak ties for getting a better job. First, we determine to what extent involvement causes better socio-economic outcomes. Second, we test whether specific voluntary associations provide larger socio-economic payoffs than others. We use life course data from the Family Survey of the Dutch Population 2000 to test our hypotheses. Because the timing of job changes and voluntary participation is known, we are able to test for socio-economic effects of involvement at the time of a job start while controlling for previous socio-economic characteristics. Consequently, the endogeneity problem from which much research in this field suffers has been overcome. Results show that members are more likely to start new jobs which are better in terms of status and earnings than those of non-members. Besides, volunteering is beneficial when entering the labour market for the first time. Furthermore, members of associations with more high status co-members are more likely to get a new job and these jobs are of higher status too. Hence, voluntary association involvement definitely pays off.

Coordination and Control in Corporate Networks: United States and Germany in Comparison, 1896-1938

Windolf, P. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:46:55 PDT

In the late 19th century, a relatively dense network was created among the large public corporations. This corporate network is examined here for the period between 1896 and 1938 in Germany and the United States. Corporate networks served several purposes: they developed into a medium of self-control in managerially run companies; they became an instrument of bank control in capital-intensive companies; furthermore, they were institutions to regulate competition in the age of mass production. In Germany, the density and centralization of the corporate network increased parallel to the growing degree of cartelization within the economy (cooperative capitalism). In the United States, the density of the network decreased in relation to the extent that antitrust laws were enforced (competitive capitalism).

In-work Benefits for Low-wage Jobs: Can Additional Income Reduce Employment Stability?

Krug, G. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:46:55 PDT

In-work benefits, which provide financial supplements to employees in low-wage jobs, are an instrument of active labour market policy used to encourage the labour market integration of low-skilled workers and the long-term unemployed. This paper argues that although government subsidies increase overall wages, employees interpret them as a signal that employers are unwilling to behave according to the norm of reciprocity. This leads to negative side-effects on employment stability, counteracting the positive effects of additional income on employment stability. The present article tests these hypotheses using a survey of in-work benefit recipients, with non-recipients as a comparison group. The method of propensity score matching is applied to eliminate all compositional differences between benefit recipients and non-recipients except for the source of their income. It is shown that in-work benefits lead to perceived violations of reciprocity. However, whether this explains why in-work benefits are not successful in promoting employment stability remains an open question.

The Inequality of Fair Play: Lottery Gambling and Social Stratification in Germany

Beckert, J., Lutter, M. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:46:55 PDT

On the basis of a telephone survey conducted on a random sample of the German residential population, we examine the distribution effects state lotteries have on Germany's social structure. Lotteries are highly taxed economic transactions, whose proceeds make up a considerable share of public fiscal revenues. Our analysis shows that lotteries are a form of regressive taxation. Using key demographic indicators, such as age, citizenship, and levels of income and education, we demonstrate the effects of fiscal redistribution.

Welfare States, Labour Market Institutions and the Working Poor: A Comparative Analysis of 20 European Countries

Lohmann, H. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:46:55 PDT

This article regards the incidence of in-work poverty and how it is reduced by the payment of social transfers in 20 European countries. It combines a micro- and a macro-level perspective in two-level models. The basis for the analysis is micro-data from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) 2005 and macro-data from sources such as the OECD and Eurostat. The broad comparative perspective allows for a separation of different institutional influences, namely the influence of the degree of decommodification, defamilization, and bargaining centralization. In contrast to previous studies on the working poor which have mainly described country differences in in-work poverty, this article focuses on the question of how such differences can be explained from a broader perspective of poverty research. In general, the results confirm the overall hypothesis that both welfare state measures and labour market institutions have an influence on in-work poverty. By analysing influences on pre-transfer poverty and poverty reduction separately, the author shows that such factors have varied effects on in-work poverty. While bargaining centralization proves to be relevant for the distribution of pre-transfer incomes only, the set-up of the social security system, in particular, impacts the extent of poverty reduction.

Trust in Cross-national Labour Relations: A Case Study of an Anglo-Dutch European Works Council

Timming, A. R. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:46:55 PDT

Using in-depth case study research conducted at a UK-based European Works Council, this article explores the dynamics of cross-national trust relations between workers' representatives. The results of the study point to a deficiency of trust between the two largest national delegations of workers on the forum. I integrate the sociological theory of dramaturgy and the varieties of capitalism framework in order to explain this deficiency. It is argued that the weak relations of trust among the delegates stem from the competitive pressures of employment in a multinational firm, the corresponding parochial interest representation and the unequal power relations within the forum that derive from the contextual features of each delegation's national system of corporate governance. The prospects for building trust via reflexivity and learning are also considered.

Libby Schweber: Disciplining Statistics. Demography and Vital Statistics in France and England, 1830-1885

Blum, A. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:46:55 PDT