scholarly journals Something ‘Old’, Something ‘New’? The UK Space of Political Attitudes After the Brexit Referendum

2020 ◽  
pp. 136078042096598
Author(s):  
Johan Lindell ◽  
Joseph Ibrahim

This study focuses on the political attitudes of UK citizens in the aftermath of the ‘Brexit’ vote. It has been argued that differences within electorates across Europe are found in disputes over taxes, redistribution of wealth and social welfare, as much as in divergent ideas on how to deal with globalisation, migration, and climate change. This article uses the 2016–2017 round of the European Social Survey (N = 1959) to shed light on two important issues in regard to the relationship between ‘old’ and ‘new’ politics. By using multiple correspondence analysis, we first consider the structure, or dimensionality, of the space of political attitudes in contemporary UK society. Contrary to a prevailing discourse that forwards the argument that postmaterial values constitute an altogether separate political dimension in late modernity, we observe that such values collapse into traditional left/right standpoints. Second, we discuss the connection between class (economic capital, cultural capital, and occupational class) and position-takings in the space of political attitudes. We show that class retains a limited effect on political position-takings, where educational capital plays the most important role. The divisions between the politically interested–uninterested, old–young, men–women, and rural–urban are more clearly demarcated than differences between people of different social class positions. Furthermore, polarisation is most prevalent between a highly opinionated, relatively resourceful, small minority of the population.

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timo Toikko ◽  
Teemu Rantanen

AbstractThis study examines the relationship between the welfare state models and social political attitudes. The data are based on the sixth round of the European Social Survey. The study revealed a mechanism of how the relationship between concrete and abstract attitudes differs between the welfare states. In the Anglo-Saxon and Nordic welfare states the relationship is a positive one, which indicates that the welfare state has a broad support among citizens. In the Continental, Eastern and Southern welfare states the relationship is a negative one. This means that the less satisfied citizens are with governmental measures, the more positive their attitudes are regarding protecting citizens against poverty. Also the study showed that the welfare state model directly influences citizens’ concrete attitudes and indirectly influences abstract poverty attitudes. In this sense, the welfare state model is seen more as an attitudinal perception than an actual social policy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-51
Author(s):  
Torsten Geelan ◽  
Magnus Skovrind Pedersen ◽  
Malthe Øland Ribe

Traditionelt i klasseteori anses akademikere for en relativt privilegeret samfundsgruppe med små interne forskelle. Teorierne tager dog ikke i udpræget grad højde for udbredelsen af prekære arbejdsforhold. En række empiriske studier af det akademiske arbejdsmarked har peget på, at der er sket en udbredelse af atypisk arbejde herhjemme og i det øvrige Europa. Med inspiration fra Guy Standings nye klasseteori, forsøger denne artikel at vise, hvorvidt teorien om prekariatet er en anvendelig tilgang til at forstå forskelle mellem akademikere. Med data indsamlet fra European Social Survey (ESS) gennemføres en specifik multipel korrespondanceanalyse (SMCA), der afsøger fem af Guy Standings (2011) syv usikkerhedsformer for akademikere. Fra analysen kan vi kortlægge tre forskellige klynger af akademikere: En overvejende majoritet i et salariat og to minoritetsgrupper i henholdsvis en ’irregulære klynge’ og i et decidere ’akademisk prekariat’. Vi konkluderer, at differentieringer i arbejdsmæssig sikkerhed blandt akademikere er en valid måde at undersøge forskelle blandt gruppens medlemmer. Samtidig påpeger vi, at atypisk ansættelse generelt set kan anskues som prekære arbejdsforhold. De relativt store forskelle mellem forskellige fagfelter understøtter de forklaringsmodeller på hierarkier på arbejdsmarkedet, som man finder i mikroklasseteorien og de weberianske teorier om ’social closure’. Endelig diskuterer artiklen hvorvidt prekære bør anskues som et udpræget livsbaneforhold for yngre akademikere. ENGELSK ABSTRACT Torsten Geelan, Magnus Skovrind Pedersen and Malthe Øland Ribe: The Academic Precariat Theories of social class have traditionally described highly educated people as a privileged group in society. However in the past decade several studies of the academic labour market in Europe have shown that precarious forms of employment are becoming increasingly common. This article assesses the extent to which Guy Standing’s perspective on class and precariat is a fruitful way of understanding labour market differentiation among university graduates. It applies multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) to data from the European Social Survey (ESS) to analyse five of Standing’s seven forms of labour market insecurity in relation to the Danish labour market. Four idealtype labour market positions are identified. These show substantial differences between university graduates from different academic fields. The article concludes by discussing the relationship between precarious employment and life-course trajectories. Keywords: Precarity, academics, labour market sociology, class theory, correspondence analysis.


2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joakim Kulin ◽  
Alexander Seymer

This study addresses how political attitudes are shaped across national contexts. It does so by investigating the influence of nation-specific political articulation and framing on the relationship between human values and political attitudes. Based on the literature, two attitude dimensions can be identified. First, the socioeconomic dimension captures the tension between economic equality and equity (rewarding achievements and effort). Second, the sociocultural dimension captures the tension between individual/civil liberties and traditions/conservative norms. Very few comparative studies systematically investigate the influence of a coherent structure of more basic and abstract motivations (values) on political attitudes. We fill this gap by examining the influence of basic human values on the socioeconomic and sociocultural attitude dimensions across national contexts. To investigate the impact of human values and political attitudes, individual-level data from the European Social Survey (ESS 2008) from 2008 are analyzed using multi-group structural equation modeling (MGSEM). Moreover, we also explore political discourse as a key contextual factor at the country level modifying the relationships between values and attitudes. Specifically, we use data from the Comparative Manifesto Project to investigate the moderating influence of political articulation, i.e., the articulation of socioeconomic and sociocultural issues in political party manifestos, on the relationship between values and political attitudes across countries. Results indicate substantial cross-national variation in the link between values and sociopolitical attitudes, and that this variation can be partly explained by the articulation of sociopolitical issues.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-141
Author(s):  
Kenneth D. Locke

Abstract. Person–job (or needs–supplies) discrepancy/fit theories posit that job satisfaction depends on work supplying what employees want and thus expect associations between having supervisory power and job satisfaction to be more positive in individuals who value power and in societies that endorse power values and power distance (e.g., respecting/obeying superiors). Using multilevel modeling on 30,683 European Social Survey respondents from 31 countries revealed that overseeing supervisees was positively associated with job satisfaction, and as hypothesized, this association was stronger among individuals with stronger power values and in nations with greater levels of power values or power distance. The results suggest that workplace power can have a meaningful impact on job satisfaction, especially over time in individuals or societies that esteem power.


1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (03) ◽  
pp. 426-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Kitchen ◽  
I D Walker ◽  
T A L Woods ◽  
F E Preston

SummaryWhen the International Normalised Ratio (INR) is used for control of oral anticoagulant therapy the same result should be obtained irrespective of the laboratory reagent used. However, in the UK National External Quality Assessment Scheme (NEQAS) for Blood Coagulation INRs determined using different reagents have been significantly different.For 18 NEQAS samples Manchester Reagent (MR) was associated with significantly lower INRs than those obtained using Diagen Activated (DA, p = 0.0004) or Instrumentation Laboratory PT-Fib HS (IL, p = 0.0001). Mean INRs for this group were 3.15, 3.61, and 3.65 for MR, DA, and IL respectively. For 61 fresh samples from warfarin-ised patients with INRs of greater than 3.0 the relationship between thromboplastins in respect of INR was similar to that observed for NEQAS data. Thus INRs obtained with MR were significantly lower than with DA or IL (p <0.0001). Mean INRs for this group were 4.01, 4.40, and 4.59 for MR, DA, and IL respectively.We conclude that the differences between INRs measured with the thromboplastins studied here are sufficiently great to influence patient management through warfarin dosage schedules, particularly in the upper therapeutic range of INR. There is clearly a need to address the issues responsible for the observed discrepancies.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Evans

This paper considers the relationship between social science and the food industry, and it suggests that collaboration can be intellectually productive and morally rewarding. It explores the middle ground that exists between paid consultancy models of collaboration on the one hand and a principled stance of nonengagement on the other. Drawing on recent experiences of researching with a major food retailer in the UK, I discuss the ways in which collaborating with retailers can open up opportunities for accessing data that might not otherwise be available to social scientists. Additionally, I put forward the argument that researchers with an interest in the sustainability—ecological or otherwise—of food systems, especially those of a critical persuasion, ought to be empirically engaging with food businesses. I suggest that this is important in terms of generating better understandings of the objectionable arrangements that they seek to critique, and in terms of opening up conduits through which to affect positive changes. Cutting across these points is the claim that while resistance to commercial engagement might be misguided, it is nevertheless important to acknowledge the power-geometries of collaboration and to find ways of leveling and/or leveraging them. To conclude, I suggest that universities have an important institutional role to play in defining the terms of engagement as well as maintaining the boundaries between scholarship and consultancy—a line that can otherwise become quite fuzzy when the worlds of commerce and academic research collide.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Czarnek ◽  
Małgorzata Kossowska

In this study, we investigate the relationship between values and political beliefs and how it varies as a function of cultural context and time. In particular, we analyzed the effects of Conservation vs. Openness to change and Self-transcendence vs. Self-enhancement for cultural and economic political beliefs using data from nationally representative samples of citizens from 34 European countries from eight rounds of the European Social Survey (data spans the 2002–2016 period). We found that the effects of values on political beliefs are moderated by the Western vs. Eastern cultural context and that there is a modest round-to-round variation in the effects of values on beliefs. The relationship between Openness and cultural beliefs was negative and largely consistent across the Western and Eastern countries. Similarly, the effects of Self-enhancement were positive across these Western and Eastern countries. In contrast, the effects of Openness on economic beliefs were positive for the Eastern countries but largely weak and inconsistent for the Western countries. Finally, the effects of Self-enhancement on cultural beliefs are weak for both cultural contexts.


This volume addresses the relationship between archaeologists and the dead, through the many dimensions of their relationships: in the field (through practical and legal issues), in the lab (through their analysis and interpretation), and in their written, visual and exhibitionary practice--disseminated to a variety of academic and public audiences. Written from a variety of perspectives, its authors address the experience, effect, ethical considerations, and cultural politics of working with mortuary archaeology. Whilst some papers reflect institutional or organizational approaches, others are more personal in their view: creating exciting and frank insights into contemporary issues that have hitherto often remained "unspoken" among the discipline. Reframing funerary archaeologists as "death-workers" of a kind, the contributors reflect on their own experience to provide both guidance and inspiration to future practitioners, arguing strongly that we have a central role to play in engaging the public with themes of mortality and commemoration, through the lens of the past. Spurred by the recent debates in the UK, papers from Scandinavia, Austria, Italy, the US, and the mid-Atlantic, frame these issues within a much wider international context that highlights the importance of cultural and historical context in which this work takes place.


1999 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-139
Author(s):  
Maurizio Mistri

This paper focuses on the problem of the governance of industrial districts in Italy. The analysis begins with an assessment of the dynamic processes that characterize the development of industrial districts, particularly as concerns the elements of a cultural nature. The relationship between local political attitudes and forms of local growth is considered, generally revealing how in the various practical examples there is a convergence between models of political behavior and the needs of the system of small enterprises. The paper ends with a brief discussion of the law 317/91, designed to establish the responsibilities and roles of the industrial districts.


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