Issue ownership, unemployment and support for government intervention

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 396-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tor G Jakobsen ◽  
Ola Listhaug

In this article an examination is made of the association between unemployment and public demand for government intervention in the economy. The main hypothesis is drawn from the theory of issue ownership: public opinion is likely to shift to the left in times of high unemployment combined with a leftist government. Research on issue ownership has typically focused on case studies of particular countries. We extend the discussion to a much larger setting. Relying on data from the International Social Survey Programme from 23 OECD countries in the time period 1985–2007 we find a combined effect of issue ownership and agenda setting. An increase in unemployment leads the public to hold more leftist economic opinions when the government belongs to the left. However, ownership of an issue cannot be guaranteed to last if a party fails to deliver outcomes that are promised and expected from its historical legacy.

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bianca Oehl ◽  
Lena Maria Schaffer ◽  
Thomas Bernauer

AbstractExplanatory models accounting for variation in policy choices by democratic governments usually include a demand (by the public) and a supply (by the government) component, whereas the latter component is usually better developed from a measurement viewpoint. The main reason is that public opinion surveys, the standard approach to measuring public demand, are expensive, difficult to implement simultaneously for different countries for purposes of crossnational comparison and impossible to implementex postfor purposes of longitudinal analysis if survey data for past time periods are lacking. We therefore propose a new approach to measuring public demand, focussing on political claims made by nongovernmental actors and expressed in the news. To demonstrate the feasibility and usefulness of our measure ofpublished opinion, we focus on climate policy in the time period between 1995 and 2010. When comparing the new measure of published opinion with the best available public opinion survey and internet search data, it turns out that our data can serve as a meaningful proxy for public demand.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-479
Author(s):  
Erik Gahner Larsen

Do personal experiences matter for public attitudes towards the role of the government? In the domain of healthcare, I argue that policies change the salience of personal experiences for government attitudes. Specifically, I expect that personal experiences matter less for government attitudes when healthcare is publicly financed, that is, when there is less emphasis on financing healthcare via market-based choices. Empirically, I link subjective and objective personal experiences from the International Social Survey Programme to macro-level policy indicators. The analysis provides strong support for the expectation and contributes to a growing body of literature interested in the underpinnings of government attitudes in a comparative perspective.


Author(s):  
Peter Lüchau

Where and in what context Danes accept religion is dependent upon their attitudes toward the boundaries of religion. Dependent upon the theoretical point of departure, the boundary may be expected to be situated between religion in the public and the private sphere (secularization theory) or between religious exercise of authority and religious self-expression (individualization theory). To determine which theory may best explain the Danes' view concerning the acceptable place of religion in Denmark, data from the International Social Survey Programme 2008 ‒ Religion III questionnaire are utilised. The analysis shows that the boundary of religion is situated at the point of religious exercise of authority, and thus individualization theory best explains the limits of religion in Denmark. Furthermore, it can be shown that this boundary is part of the existing value-based cleavages among the Danes.Hvor og i hvilken sammenhæng danskerne accepterer religion, afgøres bl.a. af deres holdning til, hvor grænsen går for religion i samfundet. Alt efter teoretisk udgangspunkt forventes grænsen at gå mellem religion i det offentlige og det private rum (sekulariseringsteori) eller mellem religiøs autoritetsudøvelse og religiøs selvudfoldelse (individualiseringsteori). Til at afgøre hvilket teoretisk udgangspunkt som bedst forklarer danskernes syn på religions rette plads i Danmark, benyttes data fra International Social Survey Programme 2008 ‒ Religion III spørgeskemaundersøgelsen. Det viser sig, at grænsen for hvor danskerne vil acceptere religion går ved religiøs autoritetsudøvelse, og dermed at individualiseringsteori bedst forklarer grænsen for religion i Danmark. Det kan ydermere vises, at denne grænse er en del af de eksisterende værdimæssige kløfter blandt danskerne


2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mads Meier Jæger

Aggregated data on regions within countries have been used to analyze the effect of religion and religiosity on aggregate support for redistribution. The data are from the International Social Survey Programme and a panel data set was constructed at the level of regions that were observed several times over the period 1985–2010. Empirical analyses show that a higher share of Catholics within a region has a positive effect on aggregate support for redistribution; a higher share of Protestants has a negative effect; religiosity (measured by church attendance) has no effect; and the effect of a religious denomination is non-linear and depends on whether or not it has a weak or a strong presence in a region. It was also found that Scandinavia is unusual in combining a high share of Protestants with high aggregate support for redistribution.


Societies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Fatke

Inequality poses one of the biggest challenges of our time. It is not self-correcting in the sense that citizens demand more redistributive measures in light of rising inequality, which recent studies suggest may be due to the fact that citizens’ perceptions of inequality diverge from objective levels. Moreover, it is not the latter, but the former, which are related to preferences conducive to redistribution. However, the nascent literature on inequality perceptions has, so far, not accounted for the role of subjective position in society. The paper advances the argument that the relationship between inequality perceptions and preferences towards redistribution is conditional on the subjective position of respondents. To that end, I analyze comprehensive survey data on inequality perceptions from the social inequality module of the International Social Survey Programme (1992, 1999, and 2009). Results show that inequality perceptions are associated with preferences conducive to redistribution particularly among those perceive to be at the top of the social ladder. Gaining a better understanding of inequality perceptions contributes to comprehending the absence self-correcting inequality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-358
Author(s):  
Bengt Furåker

European trade unions have much to gain from cooperating with each other. Such cooperation does exist, but it is still fairly limited and many obstacles need to be overcome if cooperation is to be improved. According to our survey data, higher-level union officials regard differences concerning financial resources and national labour market regulations to be particularly substantial barriers to cooperation. The enormously varying union density across Europe, and its general decrease, also creates barriers. Therefore, employee attitudes to unions are examined using data from the International Social Survey Programme. As expected, union members tend to be more positive about trade unions than non-members. The most interesting finding, however, is that employees in some countries with low union density exhibit fairly positive views or at least views that are not less positive than what we find among employees in many countries with higher density rates. This suggests that there is potential for recruiting members.


2004 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Axel Franzen ◽  
Reto Meyer

ZusammenfassungIn dem Beitrag werden verschiedene Hypothesen zur Erklärung der Unterschiede und der Entwicklung des Umweltbewusstseins im internationalen Vergleich diskutiert und einem empirischen Test unterzogen. Wir diskutieren die Wohlstandshypothese, die These vom postmaterialistischen Wertewandel, die Globalisierungsthese und die Annahmen zum so genannten „Issue-Attention Cycle“. Diese Hypothesen werden mit Hilfe einer Mehrebenenanalyse an den Daten des International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) 2000 überprüft. Die Ergebnisse stützen vor allem die Wohlstandshypothese. Es zeigt sich, dass das Umweltbewusstsein sowohl vom individuellen Einkommen als auch vom nationalen Wohlstandsniveau abhängt. Zusätzlich weisen auch postmaterialistische Werthaltungen der Befragten neben weiteren soziodemographischen Merkmalen einen engen Zusammenhang zum Umweltbewusstsein auf. Insgesamt ist das Umweltbewusstsein in den meisten Teilnehmerländern des ISSP 2000 im Vergleich zu 1993 leicht gesunken. Staaten, in denen die Bevölkerung über ein hohes Niveau an Umweltbewusstsein verfügt, weisen darüber hinaus eine höhere Ökoeffizienz hinsichtlich ihrer CO


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-291
Author(s):  
Hui-Ju Kuo ◽  
Yang-chih Fu

Although similar environmental issues are present across the globe, residents of different countries vary in the extent to which they are concerned about and act upon these issues. Drawing on data from the 2010 Environment module of the International Social Survey Programme, this study tests the structural comparability of environmental attitudes across 32 countries and examines how pro-environmental behaviours are linked to relevant attitudes. A confirmatory factor analysis from structural equation modelling helps identify three latent constructs of environmental attitudes: willingness to sacrifice, biospheric orientation and environmental scepticism. Further regression analyses reveal that the linkages between pro-environmental behaviours and the constructs of environmental attitudes converge in some countries but are less consistent in others. The findings help pinpoint signs of global convergence and national disparities, which merit more extensive analyses amid the recent surge in the availability of diverse empirical data from around the world.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 398-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Lomazzi ◽  
Daniel Seddig

Differences in societal views on the roles of men and women have been addressed in many large-scale comparative studies by employing indicators of gender roles attitudes from cross-sectional surveys. Assuming that cross-country differences in gender role attitudes are linked to the prevailing cultural value orientations in each society, this study aims at investigating the association between societal views on gender roles, as measured by the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), and the prevailing cultural values, as defined by Schwartz’s theory. However, to carry out meaningful comparisons, we first assessed the prerequisite of measurement equivalence between countries. The comparability of gender role attitudes is limited when using traditional methods based on the concept of exact equivalence (multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis). However, the recently established alignment optimization procedure reveals approximate measurement equivalence and suggests that the mean comparison is trustworthy. Based on these results, we correlate the national mean levels of gender role attitudes with the cultural values of embeddedness, hierarchy and egalitarianism, showing that traditional gender roles are displayed in societies emphasizing hierarchy and embeddedness while progressive views are more expressed in egalitarian societies.


2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Podolinská

This contribution analyses the results of international sociological surveys that collected data in Slovakia, namely three waves of the European Values Study (EVS 1991, 1999, 2008) and two waves of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP 1999 and ISSP 2006-2008). Focusing on the survey data the essay elucidates the concrete process of religious dynamics in post-communist Slovakia. Attention is paid to the so-called 'core of believers' as the main representative of 'traditional' religiosity, using this unique opportunity to explore the dynamics of this group within the last two decades. The author concludes that even if institutional religiosity is still far more dominant in the Slovak religious scene, the prevailing form of religiosity is of a post-traditional character.


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