scholarly journals The Left and universal basic income: the role of ideology in individual support

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-268
Author(s):  
Hanna Schwander ◽  
Tim Vlandas

AbstractFew studies to date have analysed individual support for universal basic income (UBI). This article theorizes and explores empirically the relationship between different strands of left ideology and support for UBI across European countries. We delineate three types of concerns about capitalism: “Labourist Left” worry about exploitation; “Libertarian Left” about repression and “Social Investment Left” about inefficiencies. Contrary to expectations we derive from political theory and welfare state literature, our results based on data from the European Social Survey suggest that having high concerns about exploitation is positively correlated with support for UBI, whereas repression concerns are negatively correlated with support. In line with our hypothesis about social investment ideology, left-leaning individuals with efficiency concerns are more likely to support UBI. Our findings call for more detailed surveys as well as further research on the different ideologies within the Left and how these relate to variation in support for UBI, which crucially shapes the potential political coalition behind the introduction of UBI.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
MARIUS R. BUSEMEYER ◽  
ALEXANDER H. J. SAHM

Abstract Rapid technological change – the digitalization and automation of work – is challenging contemporary welfare states. Most of the existing research, however, focuses on its effect on labor market outcomes, such as employment or wage levels. In contrast, this paper studies the implications of technological change for welfare state attitudes and preferences. Compared to previous work on this topic, this paper adopts a much broader perspective regarding different kinds of social policy. Using data from the European Social Survey, we find that individual automation risk is positively associated with support for redistribution, but negatively with support for social investment policies (partly depending on the specific measure of automation risk that is used), while there is no statistically significant association with support for basic income. We also find a moderating effect of the overall size of the welfare state on the micro-level association between risk and preferences.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Angelo Panno

War, famine, political conflicts and environmental factors (e.g., climate change) have increased the flow of immigrants into several European countries. Immigrants’ integration represents one of the most important challenges to our globalized society. Previous research has pointed out that social-dominant people show negative reactions towards immigrants. The present research is aimed at expanding and consolidating previous knowledge about immigrants’ research by proposing that: (i) citizens’ happiness is related to a favorable attitude towards immigrants; and (ii) social dominance orientation is related to attitude towards immigrants through happiness. In this study, a large sample recruited across different European countries (European Social Survey 2014 data, N = 40,185) has been considered. Measures of social dominance orientation, happiness and attitude towards immigrants have been assessed. Results showed that people’s happiness is related to favorable attitudes towards immigrants. Moreover, these results also showed the mediating role of happiness in the relationship between social dominance and attitude towards immigrants. Implications for future studies and policy strategies to support immigrants’ integration are discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria da Paz Campos Lima ◽  
Antonio Martín Artiles

Taking into consideration the debate on the role of social movements and of trade unions in organising social protests, in the light of contentious and conventional politics, this article examines participation in demonstrations in Europe and the political attitudes of the participants. The article uses data from the European Social Survey to examine the differences and similarities between European countries in respect of mobilisation levels over the past decade, arguing that distrust and dissatisfaction with political institutions might be a necessary condition but not a sufficient one to justify resorting to contentious politics. The article reveals the contrasts between the levels of mobilisation in southern European countries (Portugal and Spain) and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (Hungary and Poland) and examines the patterns and (re)configuration of the profile of the protestors in the 2002–2014 period.


Author(s):  
Dimiter Toshkov

AbstractThe link between age and happiness has been the subject of numerous studies. It is still a matter of controversy whether the relationship is U-shaped, with happiness declining after youth before bouncing back in old age, or not. While the effect of age has been examined conditional on income and other socio-demographic variables, so far, the interactions between age and income have remained insufficiently explored. Using data from the European Social Survey, this article shows that the nature of the relationship between age and happiness varies strongly with different levels of relative income. People in the lowest decile of the income distribution experience a ‘hockey stick’: a deep decline in self-reported happiness until around age 50–55 and a small bounce back in old age. The classic U-curve is found mostly in the middle-income ranks. For people at the top of the income distribution, average happiness does not vary much with age. These results demonstrate the important role of income in moderating the relationship between age and happiness.


2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 435-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Shore ◽  
Carolin Rapp ◽  
Daniel Stockemer

Health affects nearly all facets of our lives, including the likelihood of getting involved in politics. Focusing on political efficacy, we zoom in on one potential mechanism as to why people in poor health might, for example, stay at home on Election Day. We first look at the ways in which health is related to both people’s perceptions of their abilities to take part in politics (internal political efficacy) as well as the extent to which they believe policymakers are responsive to citizen needs (external political efficacy). Second, we examine how the social policy context intervenes in the relationship between health and political efficacy. Multilevel models using 2014 and 2016 European Social Survey data on roughly 57,000 respondents nested in 21 European countries reveal complex results: while good health, rather unsurprisingly, fosters internal and external political efficacy, more generous welfare states, though associated with higher levels of political efficacy, are not a panacea for remedying political inequalities stemming from individual health differences.


2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elyas Bakhtiari ◽  
Sigrun Olafsdottir ◽  
Jason Beckfield

Scholars interested in the relationship between social context and health have recently turned attention further “upstream” to understand how political, social, and economic institutions shape the distribution of life chances across contexts. We compare minority health inequalities across 22 European countries ( N = 199,981) to investigate how two such arrangements—welfare state effort and immigrant incorporation policies—influence the distribution of health and health inequalities. We examine two measures of health from seven waves of the European Social Survey. Results from a series of multilevel mixed-effects models show that minority health inequalities vary across contexts and persist after accounting for socioeconomic differences. Cross-level interaction results show that welfare state effort is associated with better health for all groups but is unrelated to levels of inequality between groups. In contrast, policies aimed at protecting minorities from discrimination correlate with smaller relative health inequalities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwangeun Choi

Abstract This study contributes to the emerging literature on public opinion on a universal basic income (UBI) not only by investigating the role of basic human values in influencing support for UBI but also by examining the moderating role of welfare state development in the association between basic human values and UBI support. Using the European Social Survey (ESS) Round 8 in 2016, which has an item asking whether to support UBI and the 21-item measure of human values that is based on the Schwartz theory of basic human values, the results show that individual universalism that is a self-transcendence value is positively and significantly associated with support for UBI, while the other self-transcendence value, benevolence, has a negative relationship with that; the two self-enhancement values, power and achievement, are positively linked to support for UBI. Additionally, in advanced welfare states, people who are more inclined towards individual universalism are more likely to support UBI; by contrast, in underdeveloped welfare states, this relationship is not apparent.


2020 ◽  
pp. 016402752095363
Author(s):  
Harris Hyun-soo Kim ◽  
Jong Hyun Jung

Research shows that ageism (systemic discrimination against people because of their age) significantly undermines physical and psychological wellbeing, particularly among older adults. Our aim is to contribute to the literature by investigating whether this negative association varies across national religious context. We estimate multilevel models by drawing on a subset of data (ages 55 and above) from the fourth round of the European Social Survey (2008/2009). We find that ageism is negatively related to measures of wellbeing (happiness, life satisfaction, self-rated health). More importantly, the relationship is less pronounced in countries with higher levels of religiosity. These findings suggest that the country’s religious environment serves as a buffer against deleterious health consequences of ageism for the older population. Our study thus provides additional evidence on ageism as a critical risk factor and sheds novel light on the moderating role of country-level religiosity as a protective factor.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 609-609
Author(s):  
Marja Aartsen ◽  
Gražina Rapolienė

Abstract Loneliness in later life is two times more prevalent in Eastern and Southern European countries than in Northern and Western European countries. One explanation that is put forth is the difference in expectations about social relations. We examine a not often evaluated role of trust in society as factor contributing to the country differences in loneliness. We adopt the trust-as-antecedent model of social integration, and assume that social integration is associated with loneliness. We use data of respondents aged 65 and over participating in the European Social Survey and conduct a latent factors path analysis to examine the effect of trust in the system and trust in people on social capital and loneliness. Loneliness is two times more prevalent in Eastern Europe than the rest of Europe (26% vs 10%), levels of trust are substantially lower in Eastern European countries, which in turn is associated with higher levels of loneliness.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Krulichová

Cross-national comparisons of fear of crime have been gaining in popularity within the academic community, as they allow for the examination of both individual and country-level correlates of this phenomenon. Nevertheless, the role of perceived victimization risk in fostering fear of crime with respect to various country specifics is often neglected. Drawing on data from the European Social Survey Round 5 (ESS R5), the aim of this study is to explore the relationship between fear of crime and risk perception in the context of 23 European countries. Risk perception is positively correlated with fear of crime in all of the analysed countries, although the strength of the relationship differs. Contrary to expectations, countries with a higher victimization rate exhibit a weaker relationship between fear of crime and risk perception, while in countries with a lower victimization rate, risk perception plays a relatively important role in shaping fear of crime. No effect of unemployment rate, size of migrant population or income inequality was found in the data.


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