Influence of Attitudes Toward Immigration on State Legitimacy

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 955-970
Author(s):  
Cristina Del Castillo ◽  
Alicia Blanco-González ◽  
Encarnación González-Vázquez
Keyword(s):  
European Social Survey ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Current Article ◽  
Attitudes Toward Immigration

The current article studies the influence of attitudes toward immigration on state legitimacy. We analyzed the European Union countries that received the greatest immigrant inflows in 2014: Germany, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom, through data from the latest edition of the European Social Survey. Our results show that citizens with negative attitudes toward immigration consider their states to be less legitimate. Conversely, positive attitudes toward immigration are not associated with increased state legitimacy (except in Spain). Based on these findings, there is a clear need for communication strategies that provide information on the actual effects of immigration. In their absence, the political discourse on this matter will continue to be co-opted by power-grabbing actors.

Go Your Own Way: The Pathways to Exiting the European Union

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Anders Ejrnæs ◽  
Mads Dagnis Jensen
Keyword(s):  
European Social Survey ◽  
The Political ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Path Models ◽  
Lower Education ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Studies have suggested that people voting for Brexit were motivated by anti-globalization, anti-multiculturalism and anti-elite sentiments. However, little is known about how these factors are related and whether citizens in other member states share similar reasons for wanting to exit the EU. Methodologically, this question is addressed by utilizing path models on data from the European Social Survey, with respondents in 17 countries. Empirically, this article reveals considerable cross-country variation, which implies that motivations for voting Leave should be assessed on a country-by-country basis. Yet, two main pathways are identified. First, lower education is related to more negative attitudes towards multiculturalism, which increases the probability of voting Leave. Second, lower income decreases the level of trust in the political establishment, which again increases the probability of voting Leave. Theoretically, this implies that the anti-globalization model is subsumed by the anti-multiculturalism and anti-elite models, giving rise to two new mechanisms.

scholarly journals “I do not mind immigrants; it is immigration that bothers me.” The inconsistency of immigration attitudes in Europe

Geografie ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 500-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dita Čermáková ◽  
Yana Leontiyeva
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
International Migration ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Willingness To Accept ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes Toward Immigration

Using the European Social Survey data we studied migration attitudes in 19 European countries, including Czechia. We introduced and tested the assumption about the bi-dimensional nature of migration attitudes, where personalized attitudes towards immigrants as individuals might differ from the generalised attitudes toward immigration as a phenomenon. The results of our analysis have provided arguments to suggest that one person may in fact has rather positive attitudes towards individual immigrants (in term of willingness to accept them in closer contacts in everyday life) and at the same time express reservations about immigration as a phenomenon (be more sceptical about the positive outcomes of international migration). The article also contributes to the discussion about the country context, which seems to have an important effect on migration attitudes. People in CEE countries tend to express considerably greater social distancing from individual immigrants than people in those European countries with relatively longer immigration experience. But when it comes to attitudes towards immigration as a phenomenon, here the feelings are rather reserved all across Europe.

PaReSoGo: Dataset on party representation of social groups for 25 countries, 2002–2016

2021 ◽  
pp. 135406882110238
Author(s):  
Olga Zelinska ◽  
Joshua K Dubrow
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dissimilarity Index ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Measure Representation ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
The Masses

Whereas social scientists have devised various ways to measure representation gaps between the political elite and the masses across nations and time, few datasets can be used to measure this gap for particular social groups. Minding the gap between what parties social groups vote for and what parties actually attain seats in parliament can reveal the position of social groups in the political power structure. We help to fill this gap with a new publicly available dataset, Party Representation of Social Groups (PaReSoGo), consisting of 25 countries and 150 country-years, and a method for its construction. We used the European Social Survey 2002–2016 and ParlGov data for this time span to create a Dissimilarity Index. To demonstrate the utility and flexibility in the combination of cross-national surveys and administrative data, we chose social groups of gender, age, and education, as well as intersectional groups based on gender and age, and attitudinal groups. We conclude this research note with empirical illustrations of PaReSoGo’s use.

scholarly journals Are adult learners in Europe happier than non-learners? Statistical evidence from the European Social Survey

2021 ◽  
pp. 147490412110146
Author(s):  
Ellen Boeren
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Adult Learning ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
Participation Rates ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Relationship

This paper borrows insights from the literature on European welfare regimes to analyse the relationship between happiness and participation in adult education. The academic literature and policy discourses on adult education tend to claim that participation in learning is correlated with happiness despite the lack of strong European comparative empirical evidence on this topic. This paper uses data from the latest Wave of the European Social Survey to analyse the happiness perceptions of nearly 20,000 adults between the ages of 25 and 64 who live in 16 European countries (15 European Union countries and the United Kingdom). Results indicate that while adult learners on average tend to be happier than non-learners, this correlation weakens when controlling for determinants of participation and happiness and for the countries in which these adults live. Confirming the importance of welfare regimes, this study found that adults in Finland tend to be happier than those in other countries, regardless of their participation in adult education. Happiness scores were lowest in Bulgaria and Hungary, countries with low participation rates in adult education and with the biggest differences in happiness scores between learners and non-learners. It is argued that the presence of well-structured adult learning provision might be an important characteristic of welfare regimes but that happiness is determined by much more than being an adult learner.

scholarly journals LEFT, RIGHT, AND ANTISEMITISM IN EUROPEAN PUBLIC OPINION

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-371
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Е. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
European Public ◽  
Mass Publics ◽  
Right Wing Populism

Antisemitism has long been found on both the political far-right and farleft. The recent rise in antisemitism worldwide raises the question of whether current antisemitism is found more with the far-right or far-left, the former a function of right-wing populism and the latter with what has been termed the new antisemitism. This paper uses data from the 2014 round of the European Social Survey in 20 nations to test for the connection between ideological selfplacement and antisemitic attitudes in mass publics. Analysis finds greater levels of antisemitism with the extreme far-right compared to the far-left, but extreme leftists appear slightly more antisemitic than moderate leftist. Further, there is less antisemitism than anti-Muslim and anti-Roma (Gypsy) attitudes at all positions on the left-right continuum. The conclusion puts the findings into context and suggests directions for future research.

Political Disaffection, Sociodemographic, and Psychographic Variables as State Legitimacy Determinants in the European Union

2020 ◽  
pp. 000276422098111
Author(s):  
Cristina Del-Castillo-Feito ◽  
Gabriel Cachón-Rodríguez ◽  
Iria Paz-Gil
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
European Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
General Interest ◽  
State Function ◽  
The European Union ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
Political Disaffection

According to political science, modern societies can separate the state function and the politicians’ mission. However, the existing relationship between political disaffection and state legitimacy indicates the contrary. The interest held by the European Union inhabitants in their politicians has been decreasing, and the closeness to a specific political party or political leader has been weakening. Many European countries have a great degree of polarity in their political parties’ system, which augments the complexity of forming governments or even makes it impossible. Citizens have been affected by corruption, the economic situation, migratory crisis, or the European project weakness. They feel that politicians have forgotten their role as the people’s representatives and their responsibility to behave according to society’s general interest. Through its institutions, the state must ensure the country’s performance and maintain it despite the change in the political leaders. Moreover, its legitimacy will depend on the level of social support received by these institutions. This research aims to quantify if the current political disaffection influences the European Union states’ social support level or state legitimacy. It also expects to demonstrate which sociodemographic and psychographic variables influence on governments’ fragility and the dilution of state legitimacy, which is critical for countries’ stability. For this purpose, we used the available data from the European Social Survey for 2016, and we developed a statistical analysis through variation and regression analysis. The results highlight the strong effect that political disaffection, as well as variables such as religion, immigration perception, citizenship, or emotional state have on state legitimacy and reveal the need for changes in the political parties’ performance and behavior to maintain the countries’ stability.

scholarly journals Diversity and Perceptions of Immigration: How the Past Influences the Present

2020 ◽  
pp. 003232172092277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren McLaren ◽  
Anja Neundorf ◽  
Ian Paterson
Keyword(s):  
Generational Differences ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Additive Models ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The Past ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
The Uk ◽  
British Sample ◽  
The Impact

The question of whether high immigration produces anti-immigration hostility has vexed researchers across multiple disciplines for decades. And yet, understanding this relationship is crucial for countries dependant on immigrant labour but concerned about its impact on social cohesion. Absent from most of this research are theories about the impact of early-years socialisation conditions on contemporary attitudes. Using the British sample of the European Social Survey (2002–2017) and two innovative approaches to modelling generational differences – generalised additive models and hierarchical age‒period‒cohort models – this paper shows that rather than producing hostility to immigration, being socialised in a context of high immigrant-origin diversity is likely to result in more positive attitudes to immigration later in life. This implies that through generational replacement, countries like the UK are likely to become increasingly tolerant of immigration over time. Importantly, however, a context of high-income inequality may diminish this effect.

scholarly journals The Day After the Bomb: Well-Being Effects of Terrorist Attacks in Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilio Colombo ◽  
Valentina Rotondi ◽  
Luca Stanca
Keyword(s):  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Well Being ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Satisfaction With Democracy ◽  
Muslim Immigrants ◽  
The Government

AbstractWe study the non-monetary costs of terrorist attacks in France, Belgium and Germany between 2010 and 2017. Using four waves of the European Social Survey, we find that individual well-being is significantly reduced in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. We explore possible mechanisms, finding that terrorist attacks are negatively correlated with generalized trust, institutional trust, satisfaction with democracy and satisfaction with the government. Terrorist attacks are also found to be positively correlated with negative attitudes towards migrants and perceived discrimination. Contrary to expectations, the negative relationship between terrorism and well-being is less strong for Muslim immigrants. We interpret this finding as an indication that immigrants benefit more than natives from the institutional reaction following terrorist attacks.

scholarly journals Opening the european box

2008 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Western World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Processes Of Change ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Sociological Perspective ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
Empirical Perspective ◽  
Theoretical Paradigms ◽  
Boundary Lines

Viewed from a theoretical and empirical perspective, the ongoing process of Europeanization poses new challenges to sociology. As a science, sociology reveals the inadequacy of the conceptual and methodological instruments currently available for our understanding of European social phenomena. Sociologists fi nd it di cult to defi ne the very object under scrutiny: does a European society exist? How should we defi ne a society whose boundary lines are variable? Does a study of Europe from a sociological perspective entail a study of the European Union, or of a broader social formation? e di culty encountered in "studying Europe" in the sociological area is linked to a broader theoretical debate which, in the light of the ongoing processes of change, queries the entire cognitive apparatus and the theoretical paradigms developed by sociological disciplines and related to the modernity of the western world. e "national constellation" of norms, institutions and regulative techniques which have allowed political and social integration within the national state, are now challenged by phenomena which undermine their very epistemological foundations. e concepts applied to the study of social and political integration, - society, state, legitimacy, social inequality, mobility, justice, solidarity, etc.- are, in a classic defi nition of the term, no longer e cient in discerning the phenomena which impact on contemporary societies. e variety of themes discussed by several Italian and foreign authors explore many aspects of the workings of Europe; they reveal new theoretical and methodological perspectives with which we set out to study the political, social, cultural and economic phenomena which today characterize Europe.

scholarly journals BREXIT AS A MANIFESTATION OF THE CRISIS OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The World ◽  
Populist Movements

The publication is devoted to the analysis of the UK exit from the European Union as a manifestation of the systemic crisis of the liberal democracy model. The causes and difficulties of this process are analyzed under the conditions of the failure of the political system to make political decisions. The problematic issues of liberal ideology and the model of liberal democracy were examined. The differences in the ideological convictions of the two founders of liberalism – Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, as well as the role of these differences in the modern functioning of liberal democracy in the United Kingdom. The role of globalization processes in the world in the context of the development and functioning of liberal democracy is analyzed. Some features of the course of globalization processes in the world are highlighted. The features of the existence of the European Union as an international supranational organization in the context of its influence on the functioning and stability of the political system of the United Kingdom are examined. The features of the functioning of the model of liberal democracy under conditions of strengthening the international way of making political, economic and legal decisions are emphasized. Particular attention is paid to the political motives of organizing of start of the process of the UK’s exit from the European Union, as well as the consequences of such a decision. In addition, the role of populist movements in this process, that have Euro-skeptical positions, has been established. The features of the functioning of populist movements are highlighted. The essence of the crisis of the model of liberal democracy in the United Kingdom is determined. The author analyzes the risks of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union in the context of a peace settlement of the conflict in Northern Ireland as one of the indicators of the crisis of the liberal political system. In conclusion is performed analysis of some results of the referendum on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

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