This article identifies six main theories of the determinants of social trust, and tests them against survey data from seven societies, 1999-2001. Three of the six theories of trust fare rather poo...

Who trusts?: The origins of social trust in seven societies

In this paper, subjective well being, as measured by survey questions on happiness and life satisfaction, is investigated from a sociological-comparative point of view. The central thesis is that happiness and satisfaction must be understood as the outcome of an interaction process between individual characteristics and aspirations on the one side, and social relations and macrosocial structures on the other side. A distinction is made between life satisfaction and happiness; the former is more seen as the outcome of an evaluation process including material and social aspirations and achievements, the latter as an outcome of positive experiences, particularly close personal relationships. The focus of this paper is on micro- and macrosocial conditions favouring or inhibiting the emergence of happiness and satisfaction. It is hypothesized that dense and good basic social relations, occupational involvement and success, sociocultural (religious and altruistic) orientations and participation are conducive to happiness and life satisfaction; the same should be true at the macrolevel for economic prosperity, relatively equal social structures, a well-established welfare state and political democracy. The latter conditions, however, should be more important for life satisfaction than for happiness. A comparative, multilevel regression analysis of happiness in 41 nations around the world is carried out (using the World Value Survey 1995–1997). Both our general assumption and most of the specific hypotheses could be confirmed. It turned very clearly that “happiness” and “life satisfaction” are two different concepts. It could be shown that microsocial embedding and sociocultural integration of a person are highly relevant for happiness. However, contrary to earlier studies, we find that macrosocial factors like the economic wealth of nation, the distribution of income, the extent of the welfare state and political freedom are also relevant, particularly for satisfaction. What counts most is the ability to cope with life, including subjective health and financial satisfaction, close social relations, and the economic perspectives for improvement in the future, both at the level of the individual and at that of the society. These abilities are certainly improved by favourable macrosocial conditions and institutions, such as a more equal income distribution, political democracy and a welfare state.

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How social relations and structures can produce happiness and unhappiness: An international comparative analysis.

How does the ideological profile of a political party affect its support or opposition to European integration? The authors investigate this question with a new expert data set on party positioning on European integration covering 171 political parties in 23 countries. The authors’ findings are (a) that basic structures of party competition in the East and West are fundamentally and explicably different and (b) that although the positions that parties in the East and West take on European integration are substantively different, they share a single underlying causality.

/pdf/party-competition-and-european-integration-in-the-east-and-olqk0y5f0a.pdf

Party Competition and European Integration in the East and West Different Structure, Same Causality

De-Standardization of the Life Course: What it Might Mean? And if it Means Anything, Whether it Actually Took Place?

The article discusses social innovation from a rural development perspective. The central questions addressed are: What are social innovations and why are they important for rural development? How can we gain more insights into the role and functioning of social innovations in rural development? Drawing on different approaches to conceptualise social innovations pursued in economy, management, sociology, psychology and regional economics, planning and development studies, the article outlines the central aspects on which the concept is built. Based on these insights a proposal for a concise basic definition of social innovations is given and a model of the social innovation process is introduced. Reasoning that a lack of social innovation is often one of the strongest restraints of the vitality and further development of rural communities in developed, democratic, capitalist, industrial countries, the second part orf the article highlights the need to put a stronger focus on social innovations in future rural development research. Building on these insights, the third part addresses open research questions and explains why an actor-oriented network approach seems to be a promising potential methodological way to approach social innovations in rural development research.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-9523.2011.00553.x

Why do Social Innovations in Rural Development Matter and Should They be Considered More Seriously in Rural Development Research? – Proposal for a Stronger Focus on Social Innovations in Rural Development Research

Handwörterbuch zur Gesellschaft Deutschlands

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/122762/1/209671.pdf

Über soziale Innovationen

/pdf/theorien-des-sozialen-wandels-2duhnsscir.pdf

Wolfgang Zapf

Papers

Handwörterbuch zur Gesellschaft Deutschlands

Über soziale Innovationen

Theorien des Sozialen Wandels

Lebensqualität in der Bundesrepublik : objektive Lebensbedingungen und subjektives Wohlbefinden

Die Modernisierung moderner Gesellschaften : Verhandlungen des 25. Deutschen Soziologentages in Frankfurt am Main 1990