European trade union cooperation, union density and employee attitudes to unions

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-358
Author(s):  
Bengt Furåker
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Union Density ◽  
Employee Attitudes ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
International Social Survey Programme ◽  
European Trade ◽  
Using Data ◽  
International Social

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.

scholarly journals How do union membership, union density and institutionalization affect perceptions of conflict between management and workers?

2020 ◽  
pp. 095968012096354
Author(s):  
Josef Ringqvist
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Union Density ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
International Social

This article contributes to debates about trade unions and conflict by studying how individuals’ perceptions of conflicts between management and workers relate to trade union membership, country-level trade union density and institutionalization (collective bargaining coverage, centralization and policy concertation). Hierarchical multi-level models are fitted to data from the International Social Survey Programme from 2009. The results show that union members tend to be more likely than non-members to perceive management–worker conflicts and that this appears not to vary substantially between countries. However, regardless of union membership, individuals in countries with higher trade union density and with policy concertation tend to be significantly less likely to perceive conflicts. These findings highlight the risk of atomic fallacies in research limited to the individual-level effects of union membership. Contrary to an argument often raised by pluralists, neither bargaining coverage nor centralization has significant effects. Overall, the results question depictions of trade unions as divisive organizations.

Occupation and the Political Economy of Trade: Job Routineness, Offshorability, and Protectionist Sentiment

2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 665-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Owen ◽  
Noel P. Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Trade Openness ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Job Tasks ◽  
International Social Survey Programme ◽  
Occupational Characteristics ◽  
Advanced Economies ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Trade Preferences ◽  
International Social

AbstractThe recent backlash against globalization in many advanced economies raises questions about the source of this protectionist sentiment. Traditional accounts generally attribute the welfare consequences of trade to skill level or industry characteristics, or instead emphasize the nonmaterial determinants of support for openness. Consequently, we know little about how a major labor market characteristic—occupation—shapes both the distributional consequences of and preferences toward trade openness. We propose and test a new theory of trade policy preferences based on occupation characteristics. Drawing from the tasks literature in economics, we argue that occupation characteristics are a key determinant of how trade affects workers and thus individuals' trade preferences. Our theory suggests that, in advanced economies, individuals in routine-task-intensive occupations will be negatively affected by trade, and thus more protectionist. This relationship will increase in the degree to which occupation job tasks can be provided from a distance (i.e., offshorable). We find support for our theory using data from the 2003 and 2013 International Social Survey Programme in high-income democracies. Our results suggest that the occupational characteristics of routineness and offshorability are important determinants of trade preferences, offering additional understanding of the sources of protectionist sentiment even after controlling for labor market characteristics suggested by conventional wisdom.

scholarly journals The Attitudinal Legacy of Communist Labor Relations

ILR Review ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 438-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
David G. Blanchflower ◽  
Richard B. Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Labor Relations ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Communist Labor ◽  
Job Market ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Earnings Differentials ◽  
International Social Survey Programme ◽  
Communist Countries ◽  
International Social

This study of workers' attitudes compares data from International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) surveys for former communist countries in Europe with ISSP data for Western countries over the period 1987–93, which covers the beginning of the transition to a market economy for the former communist countries. Consistent with their hypothesis that communist-run economies left an attitudinal “legacy,” the authors find that the citizens of former communist countries evinced a greater desire for egalitarianism, less satisfaction with their Jobs, and more support for strong trade unions and state intervention in the Job market and economy than did Westerners. Over the course of the period studied, however, residents of the former communist European countries perceived sizable increases in occupational earnings differentials, and they adjusted their views of the differentials that “ought to#x201D; exist in their economies in the direction of greater inequality.

scholarly journals Three-Stage Transitional Theory: Egalitarian Gender Attitudes and Housework Share in 24 Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Man-Yee Kan ◽  
Kamila Kolpashnikova
Keyword(s):  
Demographic Transition ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Gender Attitudes ◽  
Second Demographic Transition ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
International Social Survey Programme ◽  
Using Data ◽  
International Social ◽  
Over Time

How does the association between gender attitudes and housework share vary across countries and time? We examine the second demographic transition as it unmasks in the association between gender attitudes and housework participation. Using data of the 2002 and 2012 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) for 24 countries, we find that the association between gender attitudes and housework share became stronger over time in most countries, signifying that the Second Demographic Transition was in place. The results also show that the association varied across the 24 countries, reaching an equilibrium in many but at different stages. Our findings suggest that equilibria in the domestic division of labour take various forms and paces in the ISSP countries.

National Belonging and Public Support for Multiculturalism

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Sara Wallace Goodman ◽  
Hannah M. Alarian
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Public Support ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
National Belonging ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
International Social Survey Programme ◽  
Using Data ◽  
International Social

Abstract How do views about national identity shape support for multiculturalism? In this paper, we argue that individuals who view national ingroup belonging as “achievable” are more likely to support multiculturalism than individuals who view belonging as “ascriptive.” Using data from the 1995, 2003, and 2013 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) Nationality Identity survey waves across 35 advanced democracies, we find achievable national identities correspond with support for multicultural principles but not for programmatic aspects involving government intervention. Robust analyses reveal these patterns are specific to the content, rather than the strength, of one's national identity. Our findings underline the role of both national belonging and outgroup attitudes on building support for policies of inclusion—and therefore social solidarity—in diverse democracies.

scholarly journals Attitudes towards income inequality: ‘Winners’ versus ‘losers’ of the perceived meritocracy

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karlijn LA Roex ◽  
Tim Huijts ◽  
Inge Sieben
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Social Position ◽  
Or Education ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
International Social Survey Programme ◽  
Lower Status ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Group Esteem ◽  
International Social

Individuals with a higher social position are more tolerant of current income inequality than individuals with a lower social position. Besides this, attitudes towards income inequality are influenced by inequality-legitimising myths in a given society. Little is known about how these two factors interact. This study combines these two lines of research and argues that different social strata are more polarised in their attitudes towards inequality in societies with strong prevalent meritocratic perceptions. We expect lower-status individuals (i.e. with a lower income or education) to experience a threat to their group esteem and therefore be less likely to support their society’s inequalities in societies with such strong meritocratic perceptions. This hypothesis was tested using data from the International Social Survey Programme 2009 (Social Inequality) on 39 countries. The results show that different social strata are indeed more polarised in their attitudes towards inequality in societies where meritocratic perceptions are more prevalent. Our results are robust for income, but not for education. This suggests that in perceived meritocracies, people regard income as the primary indicator of effort and ability.

Religion and aggregate support for redistribution

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mads Meier Jæger
Keyword(s):  
Church Attendance ◽  
Religious Denomination ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Aggregated Data ◽  
International Social Survey Programme ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
High Share ◽  
International Social

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.

Political attitudes and trade union membership in the Nordic countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Strøby Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The Impact

Do political attitudes influence the likelihood of employees being members of a trade union, and to what extent is this the case in the Nordic countries with their high aggregate levels of membership? In this article, I address these questions using European Social Survey data from 2012. The results show that left-wing political attitudes have the most impact on the likelihood of trade union membership in Sweden and to a lesser extent in Denmark. In Norway and Finland, there is no statistically significant impact. I argue that the impact of left-wing political attitudes on unionization in Sweden and Denmark reflects a conception among employees that trade unions are normative organizations.

Een halve eeuw vakbondslidmaatschap : Een verkennende longitudinale studie naar enkele cyclische determinanten voor de ledenontwikkeling van de Belgische vakbonden, 1946-1995

Res Publica ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-32
Author(s):  
Kurt Vandaele
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Econometric Model ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Union Density ◽  
Free Riding ◽  
Structural Variable ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
The Impact

This article explains the ebb and flow in Belgian trade union membership from 1946 to 1995 by replicating the econometric model by Bain and Elsheikhn in which changes in macro-economic variables are highly significant. Since the automatic indexation of wages and the extension of collective labour agreements invite free riding, the relevance of the change in inflation and real wage is quite striking. However, the free riding-effect is slowed down by the institutionalised presence of the trade unions on the work floor. The Ghent system explains the positive impact of the unemployment rate . The model is furthermore improved by the trade union density as a structural variable. The linear form reflects the enforcement effect, while the quadratic form mirrors the saturation effect on the trade union membership. Mainly due to the 'Allgemeinkoalitionsfähighkeit' of the Belgian government system, the impact of left parties on union growth and decline is not significant in a quantitative framework. With only four explanatory variables the model clarifies more than 75% of the fluctuations in Belgian trade union membership.

Religion and Happiness

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Hout ◽  
Andrew Greeley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Religious Rituals ◽  
Religious Services ◽  
Using Data ◽  
International Social

This chapter discusses the link between happiness and religion. It draws on meaning-and-belonging theory to deduce that a religious affiliation heightens happiness through participation in collective religious rituals. Attendance and engagement appear key: a merely nominal religious affiliation makes people little happier. Notably, two religious foundations of happiness—affiliation with organized religious groups and attendance at services—have fallen. Softened religious engagement, then, may contribute to the slight downturn in general happiness. In fact, steady happiness is reported among those who participate frequently in religious services, but falling levels among those who are less involved. The chapter also considers the association between religion and happiness outside the United States using data from the International Social Survey Program, an international collaborative survey to which the General Social Survey contributes the American data.

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