The certainty–offending relationship as a function of a nation's free market cultural ethos

2021 ◽  
pp. 147737082110396
Author(s):  
Glenn D Walters
Keyword(s):  
Rational Choice ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
Free Market ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Modeling Analysis ◽  
Rational Choice Theories ◽  
Level Variable ◽  
Level 2

The current study sought to integrate aspects of classic strain and institutional anomie theories with concepts from deterrence and rational choice theories for application in a large sample of European respondents. Participants were 52,458 individuals (55% female, average age = 48 years) from the fifth round of the 27-country European Social Survey. Each participant rated their involvement in three relatively minor offenses (false insurance claims, buying stolen property, and traffic offenses) over the past five years along with their perceived certainty of getting caught and punished should they commit one or more of these prohibited acts. Each country's total 2010 Index of Economic Freedom score was also included in the study as a level 2 variable in a two-level multilevel modeling analysis. Consistent with predictions, participants from countries with higher Index of Economic Freedom scores displayed a significantly stronger connection between certainty of punishment and involvement in minor offending than participants from lower Index of Economic Freedom countries. An additional individual-level variable, the marketized mentality, was also included in the analysis and while it correlated with minor offending, it failed to interact with the Index of Economic Freedom or alter free market cultural ethos moderation of the certainty-offending relationship. These findings suggest that individuals living in a country with a strong free market cultural ethos are more apt to incorporate rational choice principles like certainty into their crime-related decisions than individuals residing in a country with a weaker free market cultural ethos.

scholarly journals When economic and cultural interests align: the anti-immigration voter coalitions driving far right party success in Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 427-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphne Halikiopoulou ◽  
Tim Vlandas
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Strong Positive Correlation ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Positive Correlation ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Party Support ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis article contests the view that the strong positive correlation between anti-immigration attitudes and far right party success necessarily constitutes evidence in support of the cultural grievance thesis. We argue that the success of far right parties depends on their ability to mobilize a coalition of interests between their core supporters, that is voters with cultural grievances over immigration and the often larger group of voters with economic grievances over immigration. Using individual level data from eight rounds of the European Social Survey, our empirical analysis shows that while cultural concerns over immigration are a stronger predictor of far right party support, those who are concerned with the impact of immigration on the economy are important to the far right in numerical terms. Taken together, our findings suggest that economic grievances over immigration remain pivotal within the context of the transnational cleavage.

scholarly journals Conservation motivation, social equality and left-right ideological preferences in Western and Eastern Europe

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Márton Hadarics
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Great Part ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Social Equality ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship

We investigated how attitudes towards social equality can influence the relationship between conservation motivation (or openness) and personal ideological preferences on the left-right dimension, and how this relationship pattern differs between Western and Central & Eastern European (CEE) respondents. Using data from the European Social Survey (2012) we found that individual-level of conservation motivation reduces cultural egalitarianism in both the Western European and the CEE regions, but its connection with economic egalitarianism is only relevant in the CEE region where it fosters economic egalitarianism. Since both forms of egalitarianism were related to leftist ideological preferences in Western Europe, but in the CEE region only economic egalitarianism was ideologically relevant, we concluded that the classic “rigidity of the right” phenomenon is strongly related to cultural (anti)egalitarianism in Western Europe. At the same time, conservation motivation serves as a basis for the “rigidity of the left” in the post-socialist CEE region, in a great part due to the conventional egalitarian economic views.

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 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.

scholarly journals Why You Should Always Include a Random Slope for the Lower-Level Variable Involved in a Cross-Level Interaction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Paul Heisig ◽  
Merlin Schaeffer
Keyword(s):  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Test Statistics ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Random Slope ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Random Slopes ◽  
Level Variable ◽  
Robust Evidence

Mixed effects multilevel models are often used to investigate cross-level interactions, a specific type of context effect that may be understood as an upper-level variable moderating the association between a lower-level predictor and the outcome. We argue that multilevel models involving cross-level interactions should always include random slopes on the lower-level components of those interactions. Failure to do so will usually result in severely anti-conservative statistical inference. Monte Carlo simulations and illustrative empirical analyses highlight the practical relevance of the issue. Using European Social Survey data, we examine a total 30 cross-level interactions. Introducing a random slope term on the lower-level variable involved in a cross-level interaction, reduces the absolute t-ratio by 31% or more in three quarters of cases, with an average reduction of 42%. Many practitioners seem to be unaware of these issues. Roughly half of the cross-level interaction estimates published in the European Sociological Review between 2011 and 2016 are based on models that omit the crucial random slope term. Detailed analysis of the associated test statistics suggests that many of the estimates would not meet conventional standards of statistical significance if estimated using the correct specification. This raises the question how much robust evidence of cross-level interactions sociology has actually produced over the past decades.

scholarly journals Determinants of hourly wages inequality in selected European metropolises. The results from the multilevel modelling

Equilibrium ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 853
Author(s):  
Edyta Łaszkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Multilevel Modelling ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Pay Gap ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Spatial Sorting ◽  
Agglomeration Effects

The aim of this paper is the identification of the hourly wages heterogeneity in the sample of individuals living in 35 European metropolitan areas. Additionally, we evaluated factors which determine spatial variability. For this purpose, we applied Mincer-type multilevel models for the micro data from the European Social Survey (2010). To delimit metropolitan areas we used Urban Audit’s Larger Urban Zones. Our results suggest the greatest impact of cross-country differences in explaining metropolitan variation of wages. We confirmed the gender pay gap equal to 10-11%, the wage premium from permanent contracts (7-10%) and being responsible for supervising other workers (16%). The importance of workers and firms characteristics was proved both for individual-level and metro-level differences. It might suggests the part of inequalities between metropolises is connected with different composition of workers’ skills in each metropolis and spatial sorting. Finally, we found that unexplained (by such attributes) proportion of variability across metropolises might be the result of agglomeration effects. The positive impact of Jacobs externalities was found, while we did not confirm the existence of Marshall externalities.

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 far-right, immigrants, and the prospects of democracy satisfaction in Europe

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 507-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aida Just
Keyword(s):  
First Generation ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Far Right ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Citizenship Status ◽  
First Generation Immigrants ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data

This paper examines the consequences of the far-right in shaping foreign-born immigrants’ satisfaction with the way democracy works in their host country. It posits that while electorally successful far-right parties undermine democracy satisfaction, the magnitude of this effect is not uniform across all first-generation immigrants. Instead, it depends on newcomers’ citizenship status in their adopted homeland. The analyses using individual-level data collected as part of the five-round European Social Survey (ESS) 2002–2012 in 16 West European democracies reveal that the electoral strength of far-right parties in a form of vote and seat shares won in national elections is indeed powerfully linked to democracy satisfaction among foreign-born individuals. However, this relationship is limited to foreign-born non-citizens, as we have no evidence that far-right parties influence democracy attitudes among foreign-born individuals who have acquired citizenship in their adopted homeland.

scholarly journals Models of Other-Regarding Preferences, Inequality, and Redistribution

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 441-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Dimick ◽  
David Rueda ◽  
Daniel Stegmueller
Keyword(s):  
European Social Survey ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
European Data ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Western European ◽  
Other Regarding ◽  
Other Regarding Preferences

Despite the increasing popularity of comparative work on other-regarding preferences, the implications of different models of altruism are not always fully understood. This article analyzes different theoretical approaches to altruism and explores what empirical conclusions we should draw from them, paying particular attention to models of redistribution preferences where inequality explicitly triggers other-regarding motives for redistribution. While the main contribution of this article is to clarify the conclusions of these models, we also illustrate the importance of their distinct implications by analyzing Western European data to compare among them. We draw on individual-level data from the European Social Survey fielded between September 2002 and December 2013.

scholarly journals Political Regimes and Immigrant Party Preferences

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 651-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aida Just
Keyword(s):  
Party Identification ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Political Regimes ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Established Democracies

This article examines how political regimes in migrants’ origin countries influence their party identification in adopted homeland. I posit that immigrants are more likely to acquire partisanship in their host country if they came from a nonparty autocracy as opposed to a party-based autocracy or democracy. Moreover, among partisans, immigrants are less likely to identify with a left-wing party if they came from a communist regime. Finally, these effects are particularly pronounced among foreign-born individuals from highly authoritarian regimes. The analyses using Geddes, Wright, and Frantz Autocratic Regimes data along with individual-level data from the European Social Survey (ESS) 2002-2017 in 19 established democracies confirm these expectations. These findings have important implications for debates on immigrant political integration, party politics, and the prospects of electoral stability in contemporary democracies.

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