European Sociological Review - recent issues

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

'You'd Better Wait!'--Socio-economic Background and Timing of First Marriage versus First Cohabitation

Wiik, K. A. — 2009-03-20

Whereas there is a well-developed literature on socio-economic inequalities in timing of first marriage, most research on the association between socio-economic family background and union timing misses out on unmarried cohabitation. Using a rich Norwegian dataset linking survey data and administrative registers (N = 6,317), this article examines the impact of parents’ education and economic resources on timing of first union among men and women entering their first cohabitation or marriage between 1970 and 2002. Discrete-time multinomial logistic regression models reveal that timing of first cohabitation was more rapid among persons with lower educated parents, while direct entrance into marriage was delayed by growing up in a wealthier childhood home. These findings are discussed within a theoretical framework stressing intergenerational transfer of preferences and parents’ abilities to sanction children's first union formation. Additionally, the delaying effects of socio-economic background could stem from individuals’ rational search behaviour.

The Rise and Fall of Fuzzy Fidelity in Europe

Voas, D. — 2009-03-20

Two issues have been especially contentious in debates over religious change in Europe: the unity or diversity of the trends observed across the continent, and the significance of the large subpopulation that is neither religious nor completely unreligious. This article addresses these problems. An analysis of the first wave of the European Social Survey (ESS) shows that each generation in every country surveyed is less religious than the last. Although there are some minor differences in the speed of the decline (the most religious countries are changing more quickly than the least religious), the magnitude of the fall in religiosity during the last century has been remarkably constant across the continent. Despite these shifts in the prevalence of conventional Christian belief, practice and self-identification, residual involvement is considerable. Many people are neither regular churchgoers nor self-consciously non-religious. The term ‘fuzzy fidelity’ describes this casual loyalty to tradition. Religion usually plays only a minor role in the lives of such people. Religious change in European countries follows a common trajectory whereby fuzzy fidelity rises and then falls over a very extended period. The starting points are different across the continent, but the forces at work may be much the same.

Language Proficiency and Usage Among Immigrants in the Netherlands: Incentives or Opportunities?

van Tubergen, F., Kalmijn, M. — 2009-03-20

This article examines the determinants of immigrants’ language proficiency and language use, two dimensions of language which have so far remained rather separate in the literature. The underlying question is whether similar or different patterns underlie these two aspects of language. The data are from large-scale, repeated cross-sectional surveys specifically designed to study Turkish and Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands. We focus on Dutch speaking skills and Dutch language use with the partner. The results show that although speaking ability and language use with the partner generally go hand-in-hand, the correlation is modest. Language proficiency and language use are equally affected by migration motive, settlement intentions and ethnic concentration in the neighbourhood. Dutch language use with the partner is strongly and directly affected by the Dutch language skills of the partner. Age at migration and education are more important for language proficiency than for language usage.

The Employment of Separated Women in Europe: Individual and Institutional Determinants

van Damme, M., Kalmijn, M., Uunk, W. — 2009-03-20

Studies on the economic consequences of divorce for women have paid little attention to changes in employment. In this article, we investigate changes in employment for separating women and the impact of individual and institutional factors on these changes using data on 13 countries from the European Community Household Panel (1994–2001). Our dynamic analyses of the odds of employment entry and exit, and changes in working hours demonstrate that European women only modestly increase employment after separation, although in some countries this change is larger than in others. Important individual-level determinants of employment changes are education and labour market experience (positive effects), health (positive effect), and the presence of young children (negative effect). Institutional factors have opposing influences: more generous public childcare provisions encourage the employment of separated women, whereas more generous allowances for single parents discourage employment. The results underline the importance of distinguishing between income- and employment-related institutions in studying outcomes of union dissolution.

'Bring Men Back In': A Re-examination of the Impact of Type of Education and Educational Enrolment on First Births in Spain

Martin-Garcia, T. — 2009-03-20

In this article, by focusing on men, I re-examine two established findings concerning the effect of education on family formation. I investigate whether the effects on fertility of timing of departure from education and type of education found among women in Spain apply also for men. I use data from the Spanish Family and Fertility Survey and apply event history models that take account of unobserved heterogeneity. My results show that, for men, type of education is just as important as level of education. However, the mechanism linking men's field of study to their fertility behaviour is quite the opposite to women's: those academic fields concerned with caring and/or which emphasise interpersonal skills do not have a positive influence on first birth timing in Spain. Additionally, and contrary to results from the female sample, neither process for men seems to be partially determined by common (unmeasured) determinants.

The Dynamics of Social Assistance Recipiency: Empirical Evidence from Norway

Hansen, H.-T. — 2009-03-20

There is considerable concern about long-term recipiency of social assistance in many western countries today. Social assistance is intended to be a temporary solution for unforeseen individual problems, but there are worries that long-term recipiency of social assistance may lead to dependency. In this article, the duration of social assistance periods are investigated using Norwegian administrative data covering the years 1992–2002. Two types of analysis were performed. First, discrete time–event history analysis was used to investigate the duration of social assistance and the likelihood of re-entries among those who succeed in exiting social assistance. Second, panel data methods were used to study the amount of money that individuals receive in social assistance. The results show that most periods of social assistance are relatively short. However, there is variation, including some long-term periods, and a large proportion of those who exit social assistance later re-enter. Immigrants, especially those from African, Asian and Eastern European countries are found to receive more social assistance payments, and for longer periods, than people born in Norway. There is no difference between immigrants and people born in Norway with regard to the likelihood of re-entering. The study also shows that there are many who receive universal benefits in addition to social assistance. Based on such findings, we question the common understanding of the social assistance system as a secondary system and safety net for those who fall outside the traditional universal benefit system, and argue that more attention should be paid to the importance of institutional factors than to discourse on dependency.

Why are Working-class Children Diverted from Universities?--An Empirical Assessment of the Diversion Thesis

Becker, R., Hecken, A. E. — 2009-03-20

In spite of educational expansion, the decline of inequality of educational opportunity in schools and the institutional reforms in vocational training and university education, access to university education still remains remarkably unequal across social classes. According to the ‘diversion thesis’ suggested by Müller and Pollak, which was extended by Hillmert and Jacob, working-class children are distracted from the direct path to university by non-academic educational institutions which affect individuals’ educational choices and provide attractive of education and training alternatives in non-academic areas. To investigate why such a diversion occurs, the mechanisms of socially selective educational choices have to be analyzed from the perspective of rational action theory. In order to test this theoretical approach, data of school leavers that have attained the ‘Abitur’ (high school degree) were collected in East Germany's federal state of Saxony. The main mechanisms responsible for the fact that working-class children are very likely to favour vocational training over education at university are the subjective evaluation of prior educational performance, the probability of success at university, and the subjectively expected costs. In particular, working-class children's educational choices are most influenced by negative estimates of prospective success in university education, which causes them to refrain from university education.

Institutions, Structures and Poverty--A Comparative Study of 16 Countries, 1980-2000

Backman, O. — 2009-03-20

Most comparative welfare state research use data on panels of countries in order to increase the number of observations. Although such data contain variation in two dimensions, temporal and spatial, the former of these tends to be ignored. The purpose of this article is to try and explain both the temporal and the spatial variation of poverty rates in terms of social insurance indicators and structural/sociodemographic factors. The analyses suggest that structural change in terms of female labour force participation rate and the proportion of families with children primarily explains the temporal variation in poverty rates. The institutional social insurance factors primarily explain the spatial variation, i.e. variation between countries. In part also the temporal variation is explained by changes in welfare state generosity. However, the effects on temporal variation vary across time and it seems as if on average poverty rates during the 1980s were held back by increasing female labour force participation and decreasing family sizes, whereas during the 1990s poverty rates were upheld by welfare state retrenchments, primarily within the domain of unemployment insurance.

Anthony F. Heath and Sin Yi Cheung (Eds.): Unequal Chances: Ethnic Minorities in Western Labour Markets

Platt, L. — 2009-03-20

Alain Degenne and Yannick Lemel: Sociologie des comportements intentionnels

Ultee, W. — 2009-03-20

Globalization and Inequality

Mills, M. — 2009-01-21

Globalization is increasingly linked to inequality, but with often divergent and polarized findings. Some researchers show that globalization accentuates inequality both within and between countries. Others maintain that these claims are patently incorrect, arguing that globalization has disintegrated national borders and prompted economic integration, lifting millions out of poverty, and closing the inequality gap. This article presents a review of current research that links globalization to inequality. Core problems behind contradictory findings appear to rest in the operationalization of inequality and globalization, availability and quality of data, population-weighted versus unweighted estimates; and, the method of income calibration to a common currency in the study of income inequality. A theoretical model charts the mechanisms linking globalization to inequality, illustrating how it generates increased inequality within industrialized nations and decreased inequality within developing economies. The article concludes with a description of the papers in this special issue and situates them within the broader literature.

Globalization and Inequality: Explaining American Exceptionalism

Massey, D. S. — 2009-01-21

Globalization creates pressure for greater inequality throughout the world, but these pressures are expressed more fully in the United States than in other developed nations. Although the distribution of US income before taxes is no more unequal than other nations, after taxes it is considerably less egalitarian. This occurs because of specific institutional arrangements that fail to redistribute income effectively and allow the pressures of globalization to be fully realized. These arrangements represent a shift from the past and were deliberately enacted over the past two decades with divergent consequences for those at the top and bottom of the socioeconomic hierarchy. The realignment of the US political economy can ultimately be traced to America's legacy of racism. Once leaders in the Democratic party sought to include African Americans in the benefits of Roosevelt's New Deal, support for economic populism evaporated in the middle and working classes. The advantage of the wealthy is further enhanced by a political system in which those with money are better able to have their interests served legislatively than the poor or working classes.

Global Generations and the Trap of Methodological Nationalism For a Cosmopolitan Turn in the Sociology of Youth and Generation

Beck, U., Beck-Gernsheim, E. — 2009-01-21

Is there such a thing as ‘global generations’? What does ‘global generation’ mean? Can we, as we did so far, still understand the concept of generation in a national frame of reference? Or do we need a cosmopolitan outlook to understand the generational dynamics that exacerbate inter-generational tensions within nations and intra-generational affinities and conflicts between nations? For example, globalized ‘Consumer Generations’ comprise very different fractions; not only those who buy and live with consumer brands and images, but also those who are unable to buy and live with these symbols, but risk their lives to become migrants to the consumer paradises of the Western World or Dubai. Our thesis is: A cosmopolitan sociology is required in order to understand the situations, impacts, divisions, contradictions, and desires of the global generations. A cosmopolitan sociology means a sociology that gets rid off ‘methodological nationalism’ and takes globality and (human) social life on planet Earth seriously. A cosmopolitan sociology differs from a universalistic one by starting, not from anything supposedly general, but from global variability, global interconnectedness, and global intercommunication. It means treating the global generations not as a single, universal generation with common symbols and a unique consciousness. Rather, it conceptualizes and analyses a multiplicity of global generations that appear as a set of intertwined transnational generational constellations.

Development Models and Industrial Upgrading in China and Mexico

Gereffi, G. — 2009-01-21

China and Mexico have both pursued export-oriented development strategies in the global economy, but with different implications for national development and industrial upgrading. While Mexico has been the paradigm for the neoliberal (‘Washington consensus’) development model associated with foreign direct investment, extensive privatization, and open markets, China has attained record levels of foreign capital inflows and export growth utilizing a more strategic, statist approach to its development. In the past decade, China has surpassed Mexico in their battle for pre-eminence in the US market. One of the keys to China's success has been a unique form of industrial organization called supply-chain cities, which has permitted it to achieve both economies of scale and scope in global value chains.

Life Courses in the Globalization Process: The Development of Social Inequalities in Modern Societies

2009-01-21

This article examines the impact of the globalization process on individual life courses and employment careers in modern societies from an international comparative perspective. Empirical results are summarized from the GLOBALIFE research project (Life Courses in the Globalization Process), which studied the effects of globalization on life courses for the first time. As the results demonstrate, the globalization process has had diverse effects on different phases of the life course. Qualified men in their mid-careers are broadly protected from the effects of globalization, while young adults are the losers of the globalization process. We also find that educational and class characteristics determine the extent to which an individual faces increasing labour market risks. Under globalization, these effects have intensified. The results of the GLOBALIFE project thus indicate that globalization triggers a strengthening of existing social inequality structures. Another central finding is that globalization has not led to the same outcome across various modern societies. Globalization appears to be distinctly filtered by deeply embedded national institutions. These ‘institutional packages’ entail diverse strategies of labour market flexibilization which themselves differentially shape patterns of social inequality in modern societies.

How Globalization Has Impacted Labour: A Review Essay

Spilerman, S. — 2009-01-21

This essay outlines the features of globalization in the current era and indicates how conceptualizations of this process differ from the related formulations of the Annales School and of World Systems Analysis. The main theme of the article is then developed, namely an assessment of the ways that globalization has impacted the organization of work and the structure of employment careers. This assessment is based on results from a variety of recent research studies, especially on findings from the Globalife project.

Gender, Occupational Prestige, and Wages: A Test of Devaluation Theory

Magnusson, C. — 2009-01-21

Devaluation theory's basic assumption is that women are culturally devalued in society. As a consequence, female occupations and tasks are assumed to be less valued than are male tasks. Previous empirical research has found that the proportion females in an occupation has a net negative effect on wages. Less documented, however, is the relation between occupational sex composition and occupational prestige. By analysing whether the female share of an occupation or feminine work is negatively associated with occupational prestige, devaluation theory may be more directly tested than when using wages as the outcome variable. In addition, the article examines whether differences in occupational prestige account for part of the wage effect of sex composition, and whether women, relative to men, receive lower wage rewards for attained prestige. Analyses on Swedish data show that the association between the proportion females in an occupation and occupational prestige is non-linear. Mixed occupations (41–60 per cent female) have the highest prestige. Further, work generally done by women—care work—does not have lower prestige in society than other tasks. These findings do not support devaluation theory. The analysis also shows that women receive lower wage returns than do men to attained occupational prestige.

Losers in Market Transition: The Unemployed, the Retired, and the Disabled

Verhoeven, W.-J., Jansen, W., Dessens, J. — 2009-01-21

The market transition debate is almost primarily focused on the ‘winners’ and on what happens to the formerly privileged during the market transformation process in post-Communist societies. This study emphasizes the impact of the market transformation process on the income of those who have few resources and are eligible for social benefits. Are these people the ‘real’ losers of the market transformation process in post-Communist societies? OLS regression models are estimated based on 50 standardized cross-sectional surveys on the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Slovakia covering a period from 1991 to 2002. The analyses show that the unemployed have the lowest income and that the income of retirement and disability pensioners is relatively protected, especially during the early transformation years. Education seems to be a helpful resource for the unemployed and pensioners, but not specifically during the turbulent early transformation years. Results on the income effect of urban residence are inconclusive.

Persistent Inequalities? Expansion of Education and Class Inequality in Italy and Spain

Ballarino, G., Bernardi, F., Requena, M., Schadee, H. — 2009-01-21

The paper analyses inequalities in educational outcomes (IEO) by class of family of origin in Italy and Spain for five 10-year cohorts born from 1920 to 1969, using the cumulative logit (ordinal regression) model. In both countries the question is whether, as education expanded, the class IEO's remained stable or diminished. The dominant view in the 1990s was that, with the exception of a few countries, inequalities persisted. In the current decade the consensus on this is changing, and decreasing class IEO is now more often found. Italy has been given as an example of educational expansion while maintaining class IEO. Spain was not included in previous analyses. The results show clearly that class IEO diminished in Spain as well as in Italy; differences in the timing of expansion and change in IEO can be accounted for through the different institutional settings of the two countries. A more contained reduction of IEO is found in Spain than in Italy.