Spiritual Values, Religious Practices, and Democratic Attitudes

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myunghee Kim
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Religious Commitment ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Spiritual Values ◽  
Democratic Attitudes ◽  
European Values ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
The Impact

AbstractUsing data from the 1999–2001 World Values and European Values Surveys, this article examines the impact of spiritual values and religious practices on democratic attitudes in twenty countries throughout Western Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Africa. I assume that a reciprocal interaction between national conditions and individual orientations shapes support for democracy. Religious commitment as theological orthodoxy and attendance at religious services does not strengthen democratic views. Instead, explicitly political and cultural variables explain approval for democratic principles, particularly among industrialized countries. Individuals who express a low fear of threatening groups also back democratic institutions, regardless of a nation's industrialization. Among religious affiliations, Protestants in developing countries advocate democratic values. So do Muslims in industrialized countries. Nonmembers of religious institutions, however, are less likely to uphold democratic attitudes.

scholarly journals Social media and the cordon sanitaire

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 510-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Littler ◽  
Matthew Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Content Sharing ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Cordon Sanitaire ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Much research has sought to map the spread of extreme and populist political ideologies across Western Europe. Despite this, it often fails to explain how these ideologies move from the political fringes to positions of influence, subverting the traditional cordon sanitaire around extreme views. As a result of recent successes by populist actors, a more nuanced understanding of this process is required. This paper posits an explanation for this success, suggesting that the growing pluralisation of the online media environment and the impact of social media content sharing are key to understanding how fringe political actors avoid both overt and implicit barriers to popularising extreme positions. Using data from the British Election Study, this paper offers a quantitative test of this approach, finding an inconsistent relationship between social media use and extreme political opinions. Potential explanations for this are discussed alongside possible directions for future research.

Enigmas of grievances about inequality: Effects of attitudes toward inequality and government redistribution on protest participation

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 348-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jung-In Jo ◽  
Hyun Jin Choi
Keyword(s):  
Labor Union ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Model ◽  
Subjective Assessment ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Exponential Expansion ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact

This study explores the multifaceted calculus behind engagement in protests using data from 45 countries in the World Values Survey Wave 6 (2010–2014), employing a hierarchical linear model. It expands the current scholarship on protest politics by investigating how individual subjective assessment and evaluation of income inequality, and redistributive preferences influence participation in protests. We found that protest is a powerful outlet used by highly educated citizens with strong grievances about economic inequality, and labor union networks, especially in advanced industrialized countries. The empirical analysis further reveals that the salience of redistributive preferences may effectively filter individual responses and become channeled into action in protests in a broader sample. Moreover, we show that the impact of grievances about inequality on protest becomes significant when government social spending is increased and the level of inequality is high. Conversely, conventional macro-level indicators on their own, such as the Gini coefficient of income disparity and social spending, did not explain variance in protest participation. Findings suggest that more systematic research is necessary to detect the precise mechanisms at play that link grievances about inequality and the exponential expansion of protest politics.

scholarly journals Trust and Fertility Dynamics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnstein Aassve ◽  
Francesco C Billari ◽  
Léa Pessin
Keyword(s):  
Extended Family ◽  
National Level ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
World Values Survey ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Generalized Trust ◽  
Fertility Trends ◽  
European Values ◽  
European Values Study ◽  
Using Data

We argue that the divergence in fertility trends in advanced societies is influenced by the interaction of long-standing differences in generalized trust with the increase in women's educational attainment. Our argument builds on the idea that trust enhances individuals’ and couples’ willingness to outsource childcare to outside their extended family. This becomes critically important as women's increased education leads to greater demand for combining work and family life. We test our hypothesis using data from the World Values Survey and European Values Study on 36 industrialized countries between the years 1981 and 2009. Multilevel statistical analyses reveal that the interaction between national-level generalized trust and cohort-level women's education is positively associated with completed fertility. As education among women expands, high levels of generalized trust moderate fertility decline.

scholarly journals Environment and infant immunity

1999 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 729-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bengt Björkstén
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Human Milk ◽  
Life Style ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Allergic Diseases ◽  
House Dust Mites ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Impact

Pregnancy is associated with a skewing towards T-helper (Th)2-like cell populations. During the first years of life, the neonatal immune responses towards allergens deviate towards a balanced Th1 and Th2-like immunity. The difference between atopic and nonatopic individuals may be how readily the immune deviation takes place. The high prevalence of allergies in industrialized countries is in contrast with the low prevalence of allergies in Eastern Europe, with a life style similar to that prevailing in Western Europe 40 years ago. The discussion on the impact of environmental changes on the incidence of asthma and other allergies has been limited mostly to the possible effects of a deteriorating air quality, poorly ventilated houses and an increased exposure to certain allergens, notably house dust mites. None of these factors can more than marginally explain the observed regional differences in the prevalence of allergic diseases. The concept of ‘life style’ should therefore be expanded considerably. The mother is a significant ‘environmental factor’ in early infancy. Human milk contains components that enhance the maturation of the immune system of the newborn infant. However, there are considerable individual variations in the composition of human milk. Recent studies indicate an imbalance in the gut flora of allergic, compared with non allergic infants, and in Swedish children compared with Estonian children. As the microbial flora drives the maturation of the immune system, changes in its composition may play a role for the higher prevalence of allergy. The future search for significant environmental factors should be directed towards other areas that have not yet been explored. The intestinal microflora is one of these factors that deserve a closer analysis.

scholarly journals Left and Right Political Orientation in Eastern and Western Europe

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Dominik Wojcik ◽  
Aleksandra Cislak ◽  
Peter Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Economic Liberalism ◽  
European Values ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Auto Identification ◽  
Eastern And Western Europe

The left-right political auto-identification has been used widely in the socio-political research for interpreting and organizing political attitudes and opinions. In this paper we analyse whether the meaning of the left-right orientation is the same in Eastern and Western Europe after the transformation in 1989. Using data from two big European survey programmes – European Social Survey & European Values Study – we show that while citizens’ support for economic liberalism is positively related to their left-right political auto-identification, citizens’ support for cultural liberalism is negatively related to it. Importantly, however, we also found evidence for the regional diversity hypothesis, which shows this pattern was more prominent among the citizens of Western European countries than among the citizens of Eastern European countries. Presented results confirm the specificity of Eastern Europe when it comes to relations between political auto-identification and other beliefs linked to it traditionally and imply that the concept of left-right political auto-identification cannot be transferred mechanically between Eastern and Western Europe.

Are the Visegrad countries independent players in European politics and economics?

2021 ◽  
pp. 839-851
Author(s):  
Anastasia Alekseevna Nevskaya
Keyword(s):  
Negotiation Process ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
European Values ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Visegrad Group ◽  
Visegrád Countries ◽  
The Eu

The article examines the degree of independence of the Visegrad Group countries in the European Union in terms of economic prerequisites and actual implementation. It has been suggested that the countries of the Visegrad Group, having reached a certain level of economic prosperity and diversified their foreign economic relations, began to strive to play a more independent role in making integration decisions in the EU, including on issues of basic common European values. This hypothesis is tested on the example of the negotiation process of the EU countries on the adoption of the MultiYear Financial Plan for 2021–2027 and the creation of a Next Generation EU Fund to work together to tackle the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The main directions of the negotiations, the positions of the participants and the general results are analyzed. Particular attention is drawn to the fact that Poland and Hungary have succeeded in achieving ambivalent language on the issues of linking the allocation of funds to member countries with their provision of the rule of law and observance of other democratic principles. It is shown that in practice the European Commission still does not abandon this linkage. It is concluded that during the EU membership, the Visegrad Group countries have succeeded in demonstrating their economic capabilities, and their ability to influence the solution of common European issues has increased, but the real degree of autonomy of the Visegrad countries within the EU has not reached a qualitatively new level, including and due to contradictions in the positions of countries within the bloc itself.

scholarly journals A comparative analysis of changes in anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim attitudes in Europe: 1990–2017

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Andreas Bell ◽  
Marko Valenta ◽  
Zan Strabac
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Immigrant Populations ◽  
European Values ◽  
European Values Study ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Relevant Factors

AbstractMuslims and immigrants have both been subjected to negative attitudes over the past several decades in Europe. Using data from the European Values Study, this study analyses the changes in these attitudes in the period 1990–2017. We find that negative attitudes have been increasing on average in Europe as a whole, with anti-Muslim attitudes being more prevalent than anti-immigrant attitudes. However, when split into a Western European set and an Eastern European set, from 2008, there is a divergence between the two halves. Our findings reveal that negative attitudes towards Muslims and immigrants have decreased in Western Europe, whereas they have increased significantly in Eastern Europe. Further analyses find that there are large discrepancies between anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant attitudes in different countries. These discrepancies are discussed in detail and related to several relevant factors, such as the differences in size of the Muslim and immigrant populations, variations in the refugee influx and other possible factors and developments.

scholarly journals Exclusionary Contexts Frustrate Cultural Integration: Migrant Acculturation Into Support for Gender Equality in the Labor Market in Western Europe

2022 ◽  
pp. 019791832110591
Author(s):  
Saskia Glas
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Cultural Integration ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
European Values ◽  
Context Dependent ◽  
The Impact

Countering linear acculturation theories, the adoption of Western European gender customs over time differs across migrant groups. This diversity implies that acculturation into support for gender equality is context dependent. However, little quantitative scholarship has identified what sort of contexts strengthen or impede acculturation. This article investigates one source of context-dependent acculturation: exclusionary contexts. I build and test a context-dependent exclusions framework that proposes that contexts that exclude non-Western migrants hamper their acculturation into support for gender equality in the labor market in Western Europe. Empirically, I synchronize European Social Survey, European Values Study, and Eurislam data on over 11,000 non-Western migrants in Western Europe. Cross-classified models show that non-Western migrants’ support for labor-market gender equality is, indeed, lower in exclusionary contexts, for instance, in destinations with stronger anti-migrant sentiments. Pivotally, the impact of destinations’ gender customs on migrants’ gender values differs across destination, origin, and community contexts. For instance, in destinations with stronger populist right-wing parties, migrants internalize destinations’ gender equality less. Altogether, non-Western migrants’ acculturation into support for labor-market gender equality is highly dependent on contextual exclusions, which means that populist claims about non-Western migrants’ universal lack of acculturation into support for gender equality should be viewed cautiously.

Accent Policy and Accent Modification Enterprises as Potential Indicators of Intercultural Power Relations: A Call for an Updated Research Agenda

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brynne D. Ovalle ◽  
Rahul Chakraborty
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Cultural Organization ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

This article has two purposes: (a) to examine the relationship between intercultural power relations and the widespread practice of accent discrimination and (b) to underscore the ramifications of accent discrimination both for the individual and for global society as a whole. First, authors review social theory regarding language and group identity construction, and then go on to integrate more current studies linking accent bias to sociocultural variables. Authors discuss three examples of intercultural accent discrimination in order to illustrate how this link manifests itself in the broader context of international relations (i.e., how accent discrimination is generated in situations of unequal power) and, using a review of current research, assess the consequences of accent discrimination for the individual. Finally, the article highlights the impact that linguistic discrimination is having on linguistic diversity globally, partially using data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and partially by offering a potential context for interpreting the emergence of practices that seek to reduce or modify speaker accents.

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