scholarly journals The Christmas Market Attack in Berlin and Attitudes Toward Refugees: A Natural Experiment with Data from the European Social Survey

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christof Nägel ◽  
Mark Lutter
Keyword(s):  
Causal Effect ◽  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Spillover Effect ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Educational Levels ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Changing Attitudes

ABSTRACT: Using a quasi-experimental research design, this study examines changes in attitudes toward refugees after the terrorist attack on the Berlin Christmas Market of December 19, 2016. In our analysis, we make use of random variation in the field period of the European Social Survey (ESS) to fashion a natural experimental design. The survey’s field period took place in Germany from August 23, 2016, to March 26, 2017. Hence, the Christmas market attack took place approximately halfway through the ESS’s field phase, thus making it possible to study the causal effect on changing attitudes toward minorities before and after the attack. We argue that the terrorist attack creates a spillover effect and negatively shapes public opinion of uninvolved ethnic minorities. Our data analysis suggests that immediately after the event, only people with a right-wing political attitude appear to be affected by the proposed spillover effect. However, we find that the worsening of attitudes toward refugees can also be observed in the general population as time progresses. We do not find variation according to educational levels.

scholarly journals The Christmas Market Attack in Berlin and Attitudes Toward Refugees: A Natural Experiment with Data from the European Social Survey

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-221
Author(s):  
Christof Nägel ◽  
Mark Lutter
Keyword(s):  
Causal Effect ◽  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Spillover Effect ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Educational Levels ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Changing Attitudes

Abstract Using a quasi-experimental research design, this study examines changes in attitudes toward refugees after the terrorist attack on the Berlin Christmas market of December 19, 2016. In our analysis, we make use of random variation in the field period of the European Social Survey (ESS) to fashion a natural experimental design. The survey’s field period took place in Germany from August 23, 2016, to March 26, 2017. Hence, the Christmas market attack took place approximately halfway through the ESS’s field phase, thus making it possible to study the causal effect on changing attitudes toward minorities before and after the attack. We argue that the terrorist attack creates a spillover effect and negatively shapes public opinion of uninvolved ethnic minorities. Our data analysis suggests that immediately after the event, only people with a right-wing political attitude appear to be affected by the proposed spillover effect. However, we find that the worsening of attitudes toward refugees can also be observed in the general population as time progresses. We do not find variation according to educational levels.

scholarly journals LEFT, RIGHT, AND ANTISEMITISM IN EUROPEAN PUBLIC OPINION

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-371
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Е. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
European Public ◽  
Mass Publics ◽  
Right Wing Populism

Antisemitism has long been found on both the political far-right and farleft. The recent rise in antisemitism worldwide raises the question of whether current antisemitism is found more with the far-right or far-left, the former a function of right-wing populism and the latter with what has been termed the new antisemitism. This paper uses data from the 2014 round of the European Social Survey in 20 nations to test for the connection between ideological selfplacement and antisemitic attitudes in mass publics. Analysis finds greater levels of antisemitism with the extreme far-right compared to the far-left, but extreme leftists appear slightly more antisemitic than moderate leftist. Further, there is less antisemitism than anti-Muslim and anti-Roma (Gypsy) attitudes at all positions on the left-right continuum. The conclusion puts the findings into context and suggests directions for future research.

scholarly journals Are Female Leaders Good for Education? Evidence from India

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 212-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irma Clots-Figueras
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
The Political ◽  
Individual Data ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Educational Levels ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Unique Dataset

This paper shows that the gender of politicians affects the educational levels of individuals who grow up in the districts where these politicians are elected. A unique dataset collected on politicians in India is matched with individual data by cohort and district of residence. The political data allow the identification of close elections between women and men, which yield quasi-experimental election outcomes used to estimate the causal effect of the gender of politicians. Increasing female political representation increases the probability that an individual will attain primary education in urban areas, but not in rural areas, and not in the sample as a whole. (JEL D72, I20, J16, 015, 017)

scholarly journals Waiting for Godot? Welfare Attitudes in Portugal before and after the Financial Crisis

2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 535-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mónica Brito Vieira ◽  
Filipe Carreira da Silva ◽  
Cícero Roberto Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Attitudinal Change ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Waiting For Godot ◽  
Welfare Attitudes ◽  
The Welfare State

Do attitudes towards the welfare state change in response to economic crises? Addressing this question is sometimes difficult because of the lack of longitudinal data. This article deals with this empirical challenge using survey data from the 2008 European Social Survey and from our own follow-up survey of Spring 2013 to track welfare attitudes at the brink and at the peak of the socio-economic crisis in one of the hardest hit countries: Portugal. The literature on social policy preferences predicts an increased polarisation in opinions towards the welfare state between different groups within society – in particular between labour market insiders and outsiders. However, the prediction has scarcely been tested empirically. A notoriously dualised country, Portugal provides a critical setting in which to test this hypothesis. The results show attitudinal change, and this varies according to labour market vulnerability. However, we observe no polarisation and advance alternative explanations for why this is so.

scholarly journals The Day After the Bomb: Well-Being Effects of Terrorist Attacks in Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilio Colombo ◽  
Valentina Rotondi ◽  
Luca Stanca
Keyword(s):  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Well Being ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Satisfaction With Democracy ◽  
Muslim Immigrants ◽  
The Government

AbstractWe study the non-monetary costs of terrorist attacks in France, Belgium and Germany between 2010 and 2017. Using four waves of the European Social Survey, we find that individual well-being is significantly reduced in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. We explore possible mechanisms, finding that terrorist attacks are negatively correlated with generalized trust, institutional trust, satisfaction with democracy and satisfaction with the government. Terrorist attacks are also found to be positively correlated with negative attitudes towards migrants and perceived discrimination. Contrary to expectations, the negative relationship between terrorism and well-being is less strong for Muslim immigrants. We interpret this finding as an indication that immigrants benefit more than natives from the institutional reaction following terrorist attacks.

scholarly journals The 2017 French Riots and Trust in the Police. A Quasi-Experimental Approach.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christof Nägel ◽  
Mark Lutter
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Police Misconduct ◽  
Survey Period ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Police Data ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Internal And External Validity ◽  
Conventional Regression

On February 2, 2017, French police officers brutally abused a young black man, leading to the first wave of 2017 French riots. The present study exploits the coincidence that the focal event occurred during the survey period of the European Social Survey (ESS) 2016 (Nov. 11, 2016 – March 11, 2017) in France, thus providing the basis for a Natural Experiment on the effect of media reporting on police misconduct on trust in the police. Data is analyzed by means of a Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) as well as more conventional regression analyses with heteroskedasticity-robust standard errors. In line with procedural justice theory as well as institutional theory, the present study finds support for the notion that this special case of police misconduct did decrease trust in the police. In addition, people reporting a migrant background show even less trust in the police after the event. Frequency of different media consumption does not appear to explain deterioration of trust in the police after the event. The results of this study increase the internal and external validity of the assumption that trust in the police can be explained not only by personal experiences, but also by the perceived unfair treatment of others. Results are robust to various placebo tests. There is some evidence that the effect seems to be short-lived, although the data basis is limited in this regard. Several fruitful approaches for future studies are discussed.

scholarly journals Are anti-immigrant attitudes the Holy Grail of populists? : A comparative analysis of attitudes towards immigrants, values, and political populism in Europe

Intersections ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-127
Author(s):  
Vera Messing ◽  
Bence Ságvári
Keyword(s):  
European Social Survey ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Human Values ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Competition Theory ◽  
Level Model ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
And Migration

In this paper we aim to discuss attitudes towards immigrants in a European context and analyse drivers of anti-immigrant attitudes such as the feeling of control, basic human values, political orientation and preferences related to right-wing populism. Based on data from the European Social Survey, we first describe how attitudes of people in Europe changed throughout a period of almost two decades (between 2002 and 2018). We will show that although attitudes are influenced by a number of demographic and subjective features of individuals, on the macro-level they seem to be surprisingly stable, yet hide significant cross-country differences. Then, we zoom in to the three most significant elements influencing attitudes towards immigrants: the feeling of control, basic human values, and political orientation. Applying a multi-level model we test the validity of three theories about factors informing attitudes towards immigrants—competition theory, locus of control, and the role of basic human values—and include time (pre- and post-2015 refugee-crisis periods) into the analysis. In the discussion we link ESS data to recent research on populism in Europe that categorizes populist parties across the continent, and establish that the degree to which anti-migrant feelings are linked to support for political populism varies significantly across European countries. We show that right-wing populist parties gather and feed that part of the population which is very negative towards migrants and migration in general, and this process is also driven by the significance awarded the value of security vis-à-vis humanitarianism.

Right-wing populist attitudes among European public servants – A cross-country comparison

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-506
Author(s):  
Wouter van Acker
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Country Comparison ◽  
European Public ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Beliefs And Attitudes

Thus far, there has not been any investigation into the populist held beliefs and attitudes among public servants. These attitudes, given the considerable discretionary decision power of public servants, and their influence in policy-making processes, could have a significant impact on public policies. This paper investigates the populist attitudes of public servants, based on data that are retrieved from the European Social Survey. The paper compares public servants from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The results show that public servants hold surprisingly similar populist views as compared with non-public servants, and that there are striking differences between countries. There are significant implications for the work public servants do, and the representativeness of the administration.

The (Non)Impact of the 2015 Paris Terrorist Attacks on Political Attitudes

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 838-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Castanho Silva
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Opinion Change ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Charlie Hebdo

Previous research has consistently found widespread attitudinal impacts of terrorist attacks. Using data from the European Social Survey, which was conducting interviews in 11 countries when the Charlie Hebdo attacks happened in January 2015, I compare respondents from before and after the shootings to test whether the event shifted public opinion on several topics. There is no evidence of average impacts across a range of issues, from xenophobia to ideological self-placement and immigration policy preferences. Data collected when the Paris November 2015 shootings happened also present no evidence of public opinion change on immigration and refugee policy matters in France, but there appears to be an effect in other countries—which varies according to contextual vulnerability. Results suggest that views on immigration and immigrants have, to a certain extent, stabilized in Europe and are less susceptible to shifts from dramatic events.

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