scholarly journals Defamilialisation Policies and Attitudes and Behaviour Among Mothers in Twelve European Countries. Do results for Denmark, Finland and Sweden differ from the others?

2014 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 5-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sirpa Weckström

Diverse family leave and day care policies create varying monetary incentives for mothers to stay at home with their children. They also affect attitudes of mothers and this should influence childcare decisions. In this study, attitudes of mothers towards cutting down on paid work for the sake of family as well as their behaviour regarding childcare at home were studied in 12 European countries. Of special interest were Denmark, Finland and Sweden, three Nordic countries with a long tradition of childcare policies supporting mothers’ work participation. The data is based on the European Social Survey (ESS) Round 2, conducted in 2004 and 2005. The least familialistic attitudes were found in Sweden, Denmark and Finland. A coarse indicator for the effectiveness of childcare policy was devised and indicated that attitudes correlated with the policies in several countries. No correspondence was found between attitudes and average times spent with children at home. Regarding the Nordic countries (particularly Sweden and Finland), the contradictions observed were consistent with childcare policies that affect short- and long-term behaviour in opposite directions. In Finland, a familialistic attitude was relatively common among mothers whose youngest child was under 1-year-old.

Human Affairs ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daiva Skučiene ◽  
Julija Moskvina

AbstractThis paper aims to establish which factors influence whether people in eastern/central European countries decide to continue in paid work or retire. The situation in Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Slovakia in 2010 is analysed. In order to pursue this aim, the following objectives were set: firstly, to analyse previous research on the topic, secondly, to evaluate factors influencing people’s decisions on whether to continue in paid work or retire in selected eastern/central European countries, and, finally, to conclude. Secondary analysis was conducted in order to pursue the research aim. Sources of data include European Social Survey Round 5 (2010) data, Eurostat, and MISSOC. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used to analyse the data. The extent to which a person is willing to engage in work on reaching the legal age of retirement is analysed in relation to economic situation, state of health, and working conditions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria da Paz Campos Lima ◽  
Antonio Martín Artiles

Taking into consideration the debate on the role of social movements and of trade unions in organising social protests, in the light of contentious and conventional politics, this article examines participation in demonstrations in Europe and the political attitudes of the participants. The article uses data from the European Social Survey to examine the differences and similarities between European countries in respect of mobilisation levels over the past decade, arguing that distrust and dissatisfaction with political institutions might be a necessary condition but not a sufficient one to justify resorting to contentious politics. The article reveals the contrasts between the levels of mobilisation in southern European countries (Portugal and Spain) and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (Hungary and Poland) and examines the patterns and (re)configuration of the profile of the protestors in the 2002–2014 period.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Strøby Jensen

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.


2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 105-129
Author(s):  
Maciej D. Kryszczuk

This article is devoted to methods of measuring the diversification of occupations and their use in analyzing complicated processes such as the ‘informationalization’ of work and the changes in socio-occupational structures currently being noted. The article’s comparative analyses were based on data from the first edition of the European Social Survey of 2002 and concern 15 selected European countries, including Poland. The following research questions were raised in connection with one aspect of the concept of an information economy: (a) has the percentage of employees engaged in ‘information occupations’ increased with the spread of the internet? (b) does a more computerized society also have a higher percent of information producers among persons who are vocationally active? (c) is the level of occupational diversification connected with the spread of the internet and if so, to what degree? At the end, the authors point to the necessity of giving deeper thought to the idea of the ‘end of work’, which is a kind of reversal of the pro-market logic of developing the labour market and technological unemployment.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  

Purpose The authors wanted to examine why undeclared workers had not received financial assistance in Europe during the pandemic and find the best way to help them and bring them out of the shadows. Design/methodology/approach To identify those whose paid work is entirely undeclared, a Eurobarometer survey of undeclared work in Europe is reported conducted in September 2019, just prior to the pandemic, and involving 27,565 face-to-face interviews in 28 European countries. Findings The paid work of one in every 132 citizens in Europe comprises wholly of undeclared work and one in 28 work at least some of the time in the undeclared economy. These workers have received no support, but they are more likely to be financially vulnerable. A high percentage of undeclared workers are widowed, divorced and living in households with multiple persons. Originality/value The authors argue that short-term support for these individuals could not only help them to survive the pandemic financially, but also transform undeclared work into declared work with long-term benefits for individuals and the wider economy.


2020 ◽  
pp. 147892992090699
Author(s):  
Izhak Berkovich

In this article, I define and measure the new phenomenon of defensive citizenship in Europe. The literature suggests that defensive citizenship engagement is related to attempts by entitled citizens to preserve their threatened interests. It has been on the rise worldwide, especially in Europe. Based on studies and reports on the phenomenon, I argue that defensive citizenship can be assessed among entitled citizens (those born in the country, whose both parents were born in the country) based on mistrust towards political institutions, anti-immigration attitudes and a challenging personal situation. The analysis, based on European Social Survey data, ranks European countries and uncovers concentrations of countries with high levels of defensive citizenship in Eastern Europe. I contend that this phenomenon has significant implications for the democratic functioning of European countries and the stability of the continent.


Sociology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shireen Kanji ◽  
Robin Samuel

We examine how male breadwinning and fatherhood relate to men’s overwork and underwork in western Europe. Male breadwinners should be less likely to experience overwork than other men, particularly when they have children, if specialising in paid work suits them. However, multinomial logistic regression analysis of the European Social Survey data from 2010 ( n = 4662) challenges this position: male breadwinners, with and without children, want to work fewer than their actual hours, making visible one of the downsides of specialisation. Male breadwinners wanting to work fewer hours is specifically related to the job interfering with family life, as revealed by a comparison of the average marginal effects of variables across models. Work–life interference has an effect over and beyond the separate effects of work characteristics and family structure, showing the salience of the way work and life articulate.


Author(s):  
Francesca Borgonovi ◽  
Beatrice d'Hombres ◽  
Bryony Hoskins

Abstract This article examines the impact of education on political participation in 15 European countries. We use data from the European Social Survey and find that education is positively associated with voter turnout and information acquisition about politics and currents affairs. However, when we use exogeneous changes in compulsory schooling to instrument education, we observe a statistically significant causal relationship in the case of information acquisition but not voter turnout.


2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H. van der Meer ◽  
Nick Mulder

The scarring effect: the lasting impact of long-term unemployment on wellbeing In this article we answer the question whether the scarring effect of unemployment lasts into retirement. This is an interesting question because the answer provides insights into the explanation of this scarring effect. If pensioners are scarred by unemployment than this suggests that the scar is caused by a loss of self-esteem. If pensioners don't have the scar than this suggests that the scar among employed is explained by either a scaring effect or by not abiding social norms. Our multilevel analyses of data for 25 countries that participated in the European Social Survey showed that pensioners do have such a scar. Pensioners who have been unemployed for at least three months have a lower level of subjective well-being than pensioners who were never unemployed. This shows that unemployment coincides with a loss of self-esteem. It is an additional argument why governments should give a higher level of priority in combatting unemployment to avoid social losses, not only for the unemployed but for the pensioners as well.


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