Showing papers in "European Societies in 2007"

The european socio-economic classification: a new social class schema for comparative european research

Abstract: As a result of an initiative by the European Statistical Office as part of its Statistical Harmonisation Programme, a prototype of a common European Socio-economic Classification (ESeC) has been created. ESeC is a categorical social class schema based on the concept of employment relations. The paper explains the conceptual basis of ESeC, describes the categories of the classification and how they may be collapsed for analytic purposes, as well as indicating how it is operationalised. The operational variants of ESeC, depending on the data available for its construction, are also discussed. In the second part of the paper some key findings of comparative analyses which use ESeC to examine issues relating to unemployment, education, poverty, deprivation and health across the EU are summarised. These analyses demonstrate the potential of ESeC as a major advance for an improved understanding of the patterns of European social inequalities. As such, this new classification should be of vital importan...

Are fixed-term jobs bad for your health? A comparison of West-Germany and Spain

Abstract: In this paper we analyse the health effects of fixed-term contract status for men and women in West-Germany and Spain using panel data. This paper asks whether changes in the employment relationship, as a result of the liberalisation of employment law, have altered the positive health effects associated with employment (Jahoda 1982; Goldsmith et al. 1996). Using information on switches between unemployment and employment by contract type we analyze whether transitions to different contracts have different health effects. We find that unemployed workers show positive health effects at job acquisition, and also find the positive effect to be smaller for workers who obtain a fixed-term job. We also establish surprising differences by gender and country, with women less likely to report positive health effects at job acquisition. For West-Germany, this was found to be a function of the dual-burden of paid and unpaid care within the home.

Explanations of Political Euro-Scepticism at the Individual, Regional and National Levels

Abstract: This article investigates to what extent nationalist and anti-out-group drives contribute to the explanation of political euro-scepticism, in addition to economic and political drives. The authors disentangle individual-level, regional-level and country-level effects by using the European Social Survey, covering 21 European countries (n=34,160), which is enriched with region and country characteristics. Perceived threat from immigrants as well as political distrust increase political euro-scepticism, explaining low levels of euro-scepticism among higher educated people, higher income categories and socio-cultural specialists. At the contextual level, the authors find that scepticism increases with the distance to Brussels. Moreover, it is found that in countries where television broadcasts are dubbed, euro-scepticism is lower than in countries using subtitles. The authors find small effects from intra-EU trade and number of foreign tourists. In particular, differences between countries in politic...

The norwegian field of power anno 2000

Abstract: This article, in the line of Bourdieu (1989), belongs to the research domain about elites and the field of power. Using data from the Norwegian Power and Democracy Survey on elites, conducted in 2000, it specifically seeks to uncover the main dimensions and fractions in the Norwegian field of power. Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) has been used to address this issue. The three main findings are these : firstly, our results show that the three most important principal dimensions in the field are an economic capital axis, then an educational and social capital axis, and then an axis separating the judicial positions from positions in culture, organizations and politics. Secondly, the political positions are the most accessible. Thirdly, the public judicial group is the most homogeneous.

Becoming a citizen

Abstract: Although citizenship and youth have traditionally seemed to be two terms with very little in common, recent years have shown an enormous interest in analysing their relationships On one hand, exploring how the new generations become citizens is a key issue for understanding the characteristics of the civic life of a society On the other, the concept of citizenship has revealed itself as a potent conceptual and analytic instrument for explaining youth transitions In order to acquire a deeper comprehension of these relationships, we believe it necessary to advance in their empirical study, to acknowledge their multidimensional character, and to defend a dynamic perspective of citizenship This paper approaches the study of citizenship from its cultural dimension and proposes an analytical framework for the empirical study of the discourses and representations of what being a citizen means to young Europeans Our analytical framework is structured along two axes: the dimension of belonging and th

Relative to what?: cross-national picture of european poverty measured by regional, national and european standards

Abstract: In this paper three methods of relativizations are used: (1) we apply the conventional poverty approach: the poor are those whose income remains below 60 percent of the national equivalent disposable income, (2) we collapse nations together into one data pool and calculate a poverty line for the EU, and (3) we decompose nation states into smaller units representing the poorest and richest areas. Within-nation differences seem to be more pronounced than differences between nations. In the Nordic countries incomes between regions as well as between individuals are more evenly distributed and, consequently, the national means are more representative for the whole countries. Moreover, the Nordic cluster, together with central Europe, is robust against the method of comparison. The method affects the Mediterranean countries. The use of the European poverty line leads to poverty rates two to three times higher than analyses based on national data. The regional variation in these countries is the widest...

The distribution and return of social capital: evidence from sweden

Abstract: This paper studies the role of social capital in the status attainment process and examines the link between the hiring process and the potential pool of social capital embedded in a person's netwo ...

Educational mobility across three generations: the changing impact of parental social class, economic, cultural and social capital

Abstract: This article addresses why the literature on Inequality of Educational Opportunity (IEO) reaches diverging results concerning the decline or persistency of IEO over time. The main argument in this article is that the diverging results may be caused by the fact that the social class variables used to capture trends in IEO act as proxies for unobserved family-background influences that are substantively different from social class. The article analyses extremely rich longitudinal data from Denmark spanning three generations within the same family lineage. It demonstrates, first, that the effect of social class on secondary schooling is overstated when other family influences, conceptualised as economic, cultural and social capital, and unobserved family influences are not taken into consideration, and second, as in the other Scandinavian countries, that IEO has declined significantly in the postwar period.

Measuring material deprivation with eu-silc: lessons from the irish survey

Abstract: In this paper we consider the consequences for measurement of material deprivation, consistent poverty and economic vulnerability of the shift from the ECHP data set to the EU-SILC instrument. Despite the restricted number of deprivation items available in EU-SILC, we show that there is a substantial overlap between such measures when they are estimated using EU-wide and a set of Irish specific indicators. By placing the EU-wide measures in the context of the full range of Irish indicators, we demonstrate that they allow us to identify clusters of individuals sharply differentiated in terms of their multidimensional deprivation profiles. They also provide an understanding of the socio-economic factors associated with such differentiation that departs in only modest respects from that derived from the more comprehensive set of Irish specific indicators.

Between outcast and outsider: constructing the identity of the foreigner

Abstract: Through the adoption of a dialogical, self+other model, which can appreciate the presence of different discourses and cultures within the self, I have investigated the identities of young migrants. A sample of young Europeans participated in the research, narrating their migration stories with a variety of autobiographical methods which integrated interviews with diaries and visual media. Young migrants refer to their condition as foreigners as an ambivalent one, which, involving also much suffering, oscillates between two different ways of positioning the self. A dream of return is always dominant for the outcasts, who either feel at the margins or do not wish to immerse themselves any deeper in the society they have moved into. Migrating means instead reaching a different level of experience and knowledge of the world to the outsiders, who can successfully translate the detachment of their special positioning into a creative and hybrid reconstruction of identities.

Educational homogamy in 22 european countries

Abstract: Research on socioeconomic homogamy was developed by stratification researchers who used marriage patterns to describe how open stratification systems are. In cross-national studies primary concern on marriage homogamy lies in examination of commonality and differences in their social structures. Following large-scale international studies we use the European Social Survey data 2004–2005 to examine the association between spouses’ educational levels. Loglinear analysis is applied to assess: (i) degree of association between education of spouses, (ii) patterns of barriers to intermarriage, (iii) variation in homogamy for partners with the same education for primary, uncompleted secondary, secondary, and university levels, and (iv) asymmetry in marriage patterns between women and men. The strongest association between spouses’ education is in Slovakia, followed by Czech Republic, Norway, Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Estonia, and Slowenia, whereas the lowest association displays in Luxembourg, ...

Employee control in the era of flexibility: a stress buffer or a stress amplifier?

Abstract: Traditionally, employee control has been considered a buffer against stress, but debate about the transformation of work raises new questions. Can individual control really counteract the high demands in downsized organisations? Or does it make flexible work even more difficult to define and delimit, physically and emotionally? This article, based on survey data from 800 Swedish employees, studies the effect of job control on work hours, work-family conflict and psychological wellbeing. The results show that high job demands are associated with longer work hours, more work-family conflict and lower wellbeing, while control has positive effects, even when demands are high.

Speeding up or holding back?: institutional factors in the development of childcare provision in spain

Abstract: This paper looks at childcare provision in Spain from the perspective of policies for the reconciliation of work and family life. The goal is to understand how social care – and childcare in particular – has been placed within the different policy domains of the welfare state, and how this condition affects its opportunities for policy development and innovation. As a point of reference, the study takes into consideration the recent EU benchmark regarding childcare provision in the context of the European Employment Strategy. The investigation looks at the impact of the institutional configuration of the welfare system and the labour market on the development of childcare provision and policies for the reconciliation of work and family. The paper suggests that, given a strong policy legacy in family policy and social services, childcare provision is expanding under the decentralized education system although it has not been articulated in terms of policies for the reconciliation of work and famil...

Trust in the euro: exploring the governance of a supra-national currency

Abstract: This article starts from a pervasive puzzle that characterises the use of all money: Why would anyone actually exchange real goods and services for a piece of paper, a token coin or an electronic blip? The author of this article argues that market participants accept money in an exchange based on the trust that others will do exactly the same. While it is the basis of any existing monetary order, trust becomes particularly relevant in the case of a newly created currency such as the euro. In addition to being new, the euro is also a supra-national currency and, therefore, lacks some of the political and cultural factors that help facilitate trust in single nation-states. How can one conceptualise the formation of trust in the euro under these circumstances? This article examines the evolution of trust along two dimensions: horizontal and vertical trust. Horizontal trust gets established through mimesis and identity. Vertical trust relies on institutional mechanisms – in particular the interaction...

Political communication about europe on the internet during the 2004 european parliament election campaign in nine eu member states

Abstract: This article considers the possibility of a European public sphere contributing to a reduction of the so-called ‘democratic deficit’ through engagement of citizens in the European project and enhancing processes of identification beyond the local or national environment. We elaborate on our interpretation of the European public sphere, emphasizing that political actors, including citizens, are engaged in political communication about Europe, either directly or indirectly through media or Internet-based representations. The study presented in this article investigates the extent of Europeanization of political communication on the Internet by measuring the visibility of communication about Europe on websites produced by various political actors in nine EU member states in the context of the 2004 European Parliament election. Two-thirds of the websites included in the study actually had European Parliamentary election-related content on the front page at the time of the election; a percentage we co...

New moral economies of welfare: the case of domiciliary elder care in germany, france and britain

Abstract: Currently, deregulation of social welfare provision is underway throughout Western Europe. The major tendency is for disorganisation, together with the emergence of welfare markets. This is also changing the way elderly people are provided with personal and socio-medical services. Focusing on domiciliary eldercare, the paper explores if this is accompanied by a change in what Kohli has termed the moral economy of old age welfare. Departing from a general reflection on the organisation of social services in modern welfare capitalism the paper sketches evolutions in the eldercare system of three major European countries, with a special focus on the role of civic rationales and professional norms in the organisational field under consideration. It is argued that the moral economy of eldercare has become fluid, thus implying a broader transformation in the societal treatment of old age.

‘on par’? the role of the au pair in switzerland and france

Abstract: The role of the au pair as outlined in the 1969 Council of Europe's European Agreement on ‘Au Pair’ Placement is ambiguous. Although they provide child care for pay, au pairs are supposed to be treated as members of the host family. Based on in-depth interviews with au pairs in Switzerland and France, this paper examines how au pairs define their role. Results show how au pairs’ definitions of their roles vary and are constructed through interactions within the host family. The au pair's definition of her role is constructed through work and non-work dyadic interactions with the host mother. The relationship between mother and the au pair does not happen in isolation, however but is shaped by the intimate relationship between the host mother and host father. The triadic relationship between the au pair, host mother, and host father further shapes how the au pair defines and experiences her role.

Mapping news on children in the mainstream press

Abstract: Research on the ways children are presented in the mainstream news media has recently become a focus of attention in Media Studies, stressing news approaches that oscillate between demonizing children and picturing them as a powerful symbol of victimization. Furthermore, children themselves do not make any statements: they are simply not heard. Similarly, there is an emphasis on episodic events, imbued with emotional or moral components. There is also a focus on risk situations, delinquency or parental advice on how to deal with new generations. This contrasts with little attention being paid to economic and social policies based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Based on these ambivalences, a longitudinal analysis of Portuguese newspapers (1970–2000) and a comparative analysis of European newspapers during a week in 2000, have been carried out in order to determine what and how they report children and related issues, and what frames have been changed or maintained. Consequently, ...

Policy for the ‘peak hour’ of life: lessons from the new dutch life course saving scheme

Abstract: The Dutch government attempts to base its social policy on a life course perspective, and it promotes such a perspective in Europe. This has led to the introduction of a Life Course Saving Scheme (starting in 2006), which aims to enable good management of the ‘peak hour’ of life and to facilitate transitions between and combinations of the activities of working, caring and learning. This important and ambitious policy can be seen as a pioneering example for European countries, however, the present realisation is not sufficient according to research and problems to deal with. This article examines (1) whether the Dutch government's life course policy is based on a sound scientific basis and (2) whether the new Life Course Saving Scheme can realise the policy aims as formulated.

Albanian migration to greece: patterns and processes of inclusion and exclusion in the labour market

Abstract: The Albanian case represents the most spectacular instance of East–West migration after the dismantling of the Iron Curtain. This paper examines the ways in which Albanians have been able to access employment in Greece and analyzes the processes through which the exclusion of Albanians in employment has occurred. In doing so, we acknowledge the multi-dimensionality of the concept and we look at what kind of inclusion different groups and individuals of Albanian origin achieve in the Greek society and why some migrants do better than others. We will identify three groups of migrants: those who have no contact with any networks of support, are unable to find a job and are in need of help; those who are at risk, fragile in economic terms, without access to social provisions or benefits; and finally those who after regularization have a relatively stable job, and access to social provisions and benefits.

Gender budgeting in belgium: findings from a pilot project

Abstract: The article highlights activities and findings of the Belgian initiative regarding gender budgeting, which are put against the background of theory and practice developed so far elsewhere. Attention is drawn upon the opportunities of gender budgeting to push further forward the policy goals of gender equality, thereby overcoming a number of problems commonly associated with the currently widely propagated strategy of gender mainstreaming. The article provides first-hand information on the origin of the Belgian initiative, its political location, the activities performed and the methodology used. Analysis of findings addresses a number of key dimensions in gender budgeting, including (i) the overarching importance of the political location, (ii) the internal management and monitoring function of gender budgeting and the importance of prevailing budgetary systems, and (iii) the external accountability function of gender budgeting and the need to link up with outside-government initiatives.

The missing european public sphere and the absence of imagined european citizenship

Abstract: In this article I correlate the lack of a common European public space for information and communication with the lack of a sense of a common EU citizenship and common European identity. The demonstrable deficit in communication is both vertical and horizontal. It alienates citizens from their elected representatives but also from crucial current public affairs. Citizens remain thus ignorant about power brokering in Brussels. It affects equally people from different coutries, individual citizens across the Union. I argue that both the growing ignorance of European citizens about Europolitics and their mounting disaffection with it derive from an entrenched political communication deficit. I hold that this malaise sustains the longlasting EU political crisis and its notorious democracy deficit. The study locates these crucial political and communicative problems, but when examining policy efforts to remedy them, similar policy gaps and non-policymaking are manifest. I analyse the media landscape, ...

Turkish youth in the european knowledge economy

Abstract: Globalisation and Europeanisation are complementary and partly overlapping processes that identify the increasingly supranational context in which political and educational systems are operating. This article explores how Turkish youth in two German and English secondary schools relate to the European knowledge economy, and how their political identities are shaped by school dynamics (ethos, curriculum and peer cultures) and social class positioning.1 Drawing upon mainly qualitative data, the paper indicates that when the concept of Europe is allied to multiculturalism, there is the possibility of including minority ethnic groups like the Turkish Muslims and giving them the opportunity of relating to the European knowledge economy. If, however, Europe is understood as a white Christian concept, then Turkish teenagers will struggle to relate positively to Europe as a political identity. The article not only gives voice to young Turkish Muslims in Europe but also assesses the potential for Europe t...

Child poverty, employment and ethnicity in the uk: the role and limitations of policy

Abstract: In 1999, the British Government stated its resolve to end child poverty within a generation. In doing so it recognised both the extent of child poverty in the UK and the moral imperative to do something about it. At around the same time, a government study of ethnic minority employment was undertaken, which was to lead to the establishment of the cross-departmental ethnic minority employment task force (EMETF) and a Public Services Agreement target for the Department for Work and Pensions on closing the ethnic minority employment gap. Despite apparent overlaps between these two agendas, given that many minority ethnic group families have children, and worklessness is one of the main causes of child poverty (though by no means the sole one), they were not really integrated. Nor has integration between them been seen – or encouraged – in European reporting processes covering topics linked to social inclusion and exclusion. In 2006, however, a link was made when the EMETF asked for a paper on child ...

Solidarity within europe/solidarity without europe

Abstract: Both in EU policy discourse and in theoretical interventions on Europe, a dilemma was constructed, which has remained implicit. The dilemma in question concerns on the one hand, European solidarity, that is, solidarity within Europe and, on the other hand, solidarity of Europe with ‘the rest of the world’. It is posed in the usual either/or form: either Europe creates and strengthens its social solidarity (its society) or it creates and strengthens its human solidarity (or solidarity in the name of humanity or humanity); it cannot do both. The dilemma is the wrong way of putting the issue, since it is not only based on an asymmetry between the specificity of ‘social’ Europe and the indeterminacy of ‘the rest of the world’ but it also separates Europe's colonial history from the relevant present. The two solidarities need to be brought back together, both for conceptual and for pragmatic reasons.

Connections between the differentiation of higher education participation and the distribution of occupational status

Abstract: This article addresses how the type of higher education participation an individual has chosen is related to his/her success on the labour market after graduation. In the first part of the analysis, the ideal types of ‘from school-via higher education-to work’ transitions are formed with the help of cluster analysis. In the second part of the study, the relationship between the type of transition and the socio-economic prestige of the occupation obtained after graduation is analysed through regression analysis. Data used in the analysis comprise educational and labour market histories of graduates with master's degree in seven European countries. Results indicate that there are significant variations among European countries in terms of the most common types of transitions. In addition, the study shows that the socio-economic level reached soon after graduation does in fact depend on the type of the transition, independently of other individual characteristics.

Changing Spatial Relations in the Baltic Region and the Role of the Media. An Estonian Perspective.

Abstract: This article presents an analysis of changing spatial relations in the Baltic region from an Estonian viewpoint. Changes in spatial relations during the last decade are indicated by the density of personal contacts, news flows, cultural exchanges and trade relations between Estonia and other countries. The empirical analysis is based on statistical data and survey results. Analysis of media content has been conducted to reveal the level of attention given to different foreign countries. The results show that the structure of mediated spatial relations differs from the social space of practical interactions between people. The spaces of direct economic relations and personal contacts in Estonia are centred on the Baltic Sea, illustrated by the dominant roles of Finland and Sweden, an increasing proximity to other EU countries and the weakening role of Russia. At the same time the mediated social space of Estonia is changing following EU enlargement; from the representation of a bi-polar world domi...

Challenges facing the EU:Scope for a coherent response

Abstract: The EU faces a number of major challenges: to shift its support from the industries of the past to the knowledge-based industries of the future; to rescue the Lisbon strategy, designed to build a knowledge-based economy but so far achieving little; to re-engage with the European public after the difficulties with the Constitution. The paper argues that these challenges are intimately connected and that it is only by addressing them together that there is any hope for success. It elaborates these connections with particular reference to a reinvigorated Lisbon strategy with a strong social dimension. It concludes by delineating the corresponding challenge that faces the research community: to undertake a fundamental revision of its analysis of social policy in relation to modern economies; and to build a new toolkit for intelligent benchmarking.

The birth of a european public sphere through european media reporting of risk communication

Abstract: In this article I argue that journalistic coverage on environmental risk issues can contribute to the emergence of a European public sphere. The transnational character of environmental issues and the need to find political solutions for them on national and transnational levels pose challenges to the journalistic coverage. I examine this by considering three empirical studies, all of which use content analysis as their main methodology. These studies compare the coverage of issues such as biotechnology, air pollution and BSE in European media outlets. My conclusion is that coverage on environmental risk issues in national media, though not synchronous and consensual but rather asynchronous and controversial and stressing the own national point of view, does contribute to the emergence of a European public sphere.

EUROCRATS, TECHNOCRATS, AND DEMOCRATS: Competing ideologies in the European Information Society

Abstract: This article addresses the growing concern about a communication deficit in the European Union, and specifically with the notion that communication technologies may be deployed to overcome existing deficiencies in the dialogue between the union and its citizens. It examines proposed solutions to the deficit, including the notion of a European public sphere, and the creation of ‘e-Europe’ with the increasing digitalisation of many processes and institutions in the hope that this would make them more accessible, accountable, and effective. It argues that these hopes are rooted in myths, both technocratic and bureaucratic, that ignore the persistence of social divisions in media and communications technology use, and in the necessity of universal values as part of the national and parochial experiential of European citizens before it could be expanded to a trans-national level.