Trustees, Delegates, and Responsiveness in Comparative Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 766-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Bowler
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Large Body ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Aggregate Level ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Conceptual Distinction ◽  
Citizen Preferences ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Government Responsiveness

A large body of aggregate-level work shows that government policies do indeed respond to citizen preferences. But whether citizens recognize that government is responsive is another question entirely. Indeed, a prior question is whether or not citizens value responsiveness in the way that academic research assumes they should in the first place. Using comparative data from the European Social Survey, this article examines how citizens see government responsiveness. We show that several key assumptions of the aggregate-level literature are met at the individual level. But we also present results that show that attitudes toward representation and responsiveness are colored, sometimes in quite surprising ways, by winner–loser effects. In a finding that stands in some contrast to the normative literature on the topic, we show that these sorts of short-term attitudes help shape preferences for models of representation. In particular, we show that the distinction between delegates and trustees is a conceptual distinction that has limits in helping us to understand citizen preferences for representation.

scholarly journals Patterns of Trust and Subjective Well-Being Across Europe: New Insights from Repeated Cross-Sectional Analyses Based on the European Social Survey 2002–2016

2019 ◽  
Vol 148 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Glatz ◽  
Anja Eder
Keyword(s):  
Social Trust ◽  
Well Being ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Institutional Trust ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Aggregate Level ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Positive Effect

Abstract This paper offers elaborate analyses regarding the effects of social- as well as institutional trust as parts of social capital on subjective well-being (SWB) by using data from the European Social Survey, including 36 countries and eight time-points between 2002 and 2016. We analyze (1) The development of trust and SWB on the aggregate level; (2) The effect of trust on SWB on the individual cross-sectional level; and (3) The longitudinal and cross-sectional effect of trust on SWB on the aggregate level while considering control variables based on previous research. We observe a weak positive trend regarding social trust as well as SWB over time, but no significant change in institutional trust. However, trends are far from homogeneous across countries. In accordance to previous studies, we find a positive effect of social trust on SWB. This effect holds on the individual cross-sectional level for every participating country, but also on the longitudinal level. In view of institutional trust, we see a positive effect on SWB on the individual and aggregate cross-sectional level, but not over time. Thus, this study particularly sheds new light on this relation, indicating that it´s cross-sectional relation is due to confounding variables. Moreover, we observe no relation between economic growth and SWB after controlling for unemployment, but a positive effect of decreasing unemployment and inflation on SWB. Our data suggests that establishing an environment with high social trust across Europe would be rewarded with a happy society.

scholarly journals Whose Realm, His Trust - Regional Disparities of Generalized Trust in Europe

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Stephany
Keyword(s):  
Driving Forces ◽  
National Level ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Generalized Trust ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Regional Clusters ◽  
Commercial Transaction ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Individual

Trust explains the functioning of markets, institutions or society as a whole. It is a key element in almost every commercial transaction over time and might be one of the main explanations of economic success and development. In Europe, the determinants of (generalized) trust have been investigated in the past. Most scholars have focused on aggregate (national) levels of trust. However, it can be assumed that driving forces, which foster or diminish trust, act at a sub-national level. Regional clusters remain undetected. With the use of the European Social Survey 6 and modern spatial diagnostics, this work examines the individual and regional determinants of trust in 88 European NUTS1 regions in 26 countries. There are two main findings. First, wealth, linguistic fragmentation, and religious ideologies shape trust on a regional level, education, income, and membership in associations foster trust on an individual level. Secondly, the study unravels regional dispersions in different types of "trust regimes" in Europe. Regional clusters of generalized trust are confirmed by spatial diagnostics. The "regionality" of trust could be of importance for future targeted policy making.

Singled Out or Drawn In? Social Polices and Lone Mothers’ Political Engagement

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 471-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Shore
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Single Mothers ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Lone Mothers ◽  
Cash Benefits ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Politically Active

Although it is no longer a symbol of socially degenerate behavior in many societies, single motherhood remains associated with numerous risks and disadvantages. In addition to their disadvantages in the labor market and their greater risk of poverty, single mothers also tend to be less politically active. This article explores the patterns of single mothers’ electoral participation across 25 European countries. In addition to the individual-level characteristics that shape the likelihood of taking part in an election, public policies can also do a great deal to encourage political involvement. Drawing on data from the European Social Survey combined with national family and labor market policies, I examine the ways in which policies aiming to reconcile the responsibilities at work and home can draw single mothers into political engagement. I find that early childhood expenditures and cash benefits to families are positively related to single mothers’ political participation.

scholarly journals The Effects of Provincial and Individual Religiosity on Deviance in China: A Multilevel Modeling Test of the Moral Community Thesis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuhua Wang ◽  
Sung Joon Jang
Keyword(s):  
Multilevel Modeling ◽  
Inverse Relationship ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Moral Community ◽  
Aggregate Level ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Deviant Behaviors ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Province Level

This paper examines the moral community thesis in the secular context of China. Using multilevel logistic regression, we test (1) whether both individual- (measured by affiliation with institutional religion) and aggregate-level religiosity (measured by the number of religious sites per 10,000 people in province) are inversely related to law and rule violations at the individual level and (2) whether the province-level religiosity enhances the inverse relationship between individual religiosity and the deviant behaviors. Results from analyzing data from the 2010 China General Social Survey and the Spatial Explorer of Religions show that both individual- and aggregate-level religiosity are inversely related to the odds of violating the law and various rules of government, transportation, workplace, and other organizations. However, the cross-level interactions are not significant across models, indicating that the contextual religiosity does not increase the effect of individual-level religiosity on deviance. Implications of findings for the moral community thesis are discussed.

Activism Gone Shopping: An Empirical Exploration of Individual-Level Determinants of Political Consumerism and Donating

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Elena Sandovici ◽  
Terri Davis
Keyword(s):  
European Social Survey ◽  
Political Consumerism ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Data Services ◽  
Social Science Data ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Individual

AbstractUsing data collected from the European Social Survey (made available by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services), we compare the political acts of buycotting, boycotting, and direct monetary donation and examine the different individual-level attributes that determine people to engage in these political acts. Specifically, we examine the individual attributes that best indicate an individual’s propensity to engage in these activities. Our main findings are that women and young people participate in political consumerism more than men and older people. We also find that donors differ substantially from buycotters and boycotters, which leads us to conclude that donating is a different, more traditional type of participation than is political consumerism. This sets the stage for studying nontraditional realms of political expression and in particular indicates a need for future studies on political actors most likely to engage in political consumerism.

European Opinion About Immigration: The Role of Identities, Interests and Information

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 477-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN SIDES ◽  
JACK CITRIN
Keyword(s):  
European Social Survey ◽  
Actual Number ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Statistical Effect ◽  
Material Interests ◽  
The Individual

This article assesses the influence of material interests and cultural identities on European opinion about immigration. Analysis of respondents in twenty countries sampled in the 2002–03 European Social Survey demonstrates that they are unenthusiastic about high levels of immigration and typically overestimate the actual number of immigrants living in their country. At the individual level, cultural and national identity, economic interests and the level of information about immigration are all important predictors of attitudes. ‘Symbolic’ predispositions, such as preferences for cultural unity, have a stronger statistical effect than economic dissatisfaction. Variation across countries in both the level and the predictors of opposition to immigration are mostly unrelated to contextual factors cited in previous research, notably the amount of immigration into a country and the overall state of its economy. The ramifications of these findings for policy makers are discussed in the context of current debates about immigration and European integration.

Associations Between Higher-Order Values Vary with Age, Education, and Income

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maksim Rudnev
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Value Structures ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Representative Samples

A theory of basic human values relies on the similarity of value structures across countries. It has been well established that the quasi-circumplex value structure as a whole is indeed universal. However, less attention has been paid to the associations between specific values. This study investigated associations between four higher-order values across age, education, and income groups. We analyzed the data from national representative samples collected in 29 countries as part of the fourth round of the European Social Survey with a series of multilevel regressions. Younger age, higher levels of education and income coincided with higher independence of the four adjacent higher-order values, whereas among older, less educated, and less wealthy groups, values tended to merge into a single dimension of Social versus Person Focus. These differences were slightly weaker in more economically developed countries. The group differences in value associations may follow from corresponding differences in the degree of societal and individual empowerment, cognitive abilities, and socialization experiences. Accounting for the individual differences in relations between values may bring deeper understanding and higher predictive power to the studies of links between values and various behaviors or attitudes. , value structure, value interactions, European Social Survey

scholarly journals Regional Variation in Inequality of Educational Opportunity across Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312110198
Author(s):  
Bastian A. Betthäuser ◽  
Caspar Kaiser ◽  
Nhat An Trinh
Keyword(s):  
Regional Variation ◽  
Educational Opportunity ◽  
Large Body ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Inequality Of Educational Opportunity ◽  
Cross National

A large body of literature documents cross-national variation in the level of inequality of educational opportunity (IEO) among children from different social backgrounds. By contrast, relatively little attention has been given to the extent to which IEO varies within counties and across regions. On the basis of data from the European Social Survey, the authors map variation in IEO across regions in Europe and show that IEO varies substantially within counties. This visualization of the heterogeneity of IEO within European countries highlights the need for researchers and policy makers to extend the current focus on cross-national differences and to investigate and address IEO at the regional level. The visualization raises important questions with respect to the contours, causes, and consequences of cross-regional variation in IEO.

scholarly journals Frankly, We Do Give a Damn

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 816-826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilad Feldman ◽  
Huiwen Lian ◽  
Michal Kosinski ◽  
David Stillwell
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Aggregate Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Common Causes ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

There are two conflicting perspectives regarding the relationship between profanity and dishonesty. These two forms of norm-violating behavior share common causes and are often considered to be positively related. On the other hand, however, profanity is often used to express one’s genuine feelings and could therefore be negatively related to dishonesty. In three studies, we explored the relationship between profanity and honesty. We examined profanity and honesty first with profanity behavior and lying on a scale in the lab (Study 1; N = 276), then with a linguistic analysis of real-life social interactions on Facebook (Study 2; N = 73,789), and finally with profanity and integrity indexes for the aggregate level of U.S. states (Study 3; N = 50 states). We found a consistent positive relationship between profanity and honesty; profanity was associated with less lying and deception at the individual level and with higher integrity at the society level.

Levels of Aggregation in Conjoint Analysis: An Empirical Comparison

1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 516-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Conjoint Analysis ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Aggregate Level ◽  
Segmentation Method ◽  
Empirical Comparison ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Aggregate Analysis ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Level Analysis

Two segmented methods of performing conjoint anal/sis, clustered and componential segmentation, are compared with each other as well as with individual level and totally aggregate level analyses. The two segmented methods provide insights to the data that (1) are not obtainable at the aggregate level and (2) are in a form that is more easily communicated than the information from the individual level analysis. The predictive power of the clustered segmentation method is higher than that of componential segmentation, and both are superior to the aggregate analysis but inferior to individual level analysis.

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