Institutional Distrust, Institutional Participation, and Protest Behavior in the European Social Movement Sector

Contention ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-75
Author(s):  
Matthew Schoene

Institutional distrust has become a pervasive element of global society in general and European society in particular. Concurrently, participation in institutions is also declining, raising concerns about the effectiveness of civil society. Distrust of institutions like the political, education, legal-judicial, and law enforcement systems is linked to declining participation in mainstream political behaviors like voting, but it is unclear how individuals’ trust of and participation in certain institutions affects social movement activity and participation in protest. Here, I use recent European protest movements to better understand the link between institutional distrust, institutional participation, and social protest. Using the 7th wave of the European Social Survey, I construct several multilevel mixed-effects logistic regressions predicting participation in four forms of protest: signing petitions, boycotting products, wearing protest badges, and participating in demonstrations. It turns out that, while institutional distrust is moderately and positively linked to certain forms of protest, those who partake in mainstream political institutions are far more likely to participate in all forms of protest.

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.


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.


2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 1511-1532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henar Criado ◽  
Francisco Herreros

The analysis of the causes of political support for political institutions has been focused either on one-case studies that stress the relevance of individual variables or cross-national studies that stress the role of institutions. In this article, the authors suggest that to understand the logic of political support, it is necessary to combine both types of explanations. Using evidence from 17 European countries of the 2002 to 2003 European Social Survey data set, the authors show that the effect of the performance of the institution on political support is higher in majoritarian democracies, where the attribution of responsibility for policy outcomes is clear, than in proportional democracies. They also show that the effect of ideology on political support depends on the type of democracy: Those citizens ideologically far from the government will show higher levels of political support in proportional democracies than in majoritarian ones.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Jasper Muis ◽  
Tobias Brils ◽  
Teodora Gaidytė

Abstract While debates about far-right populism often concentrate on Central and Eastern Europe, research on these parties predominantly focuses on Western countries. Addressing this remarkable gap, this article revisits the ‘protest voting’ explanation for electoral support for the far right. Using European Social Survey data (2002–16) from 22 countries, we show that political dissatisfaction is a stronger explanatory factor when far-right parties are in opposition, but is a less important determinant of electoral support when they are in government. Previous findings based on Western Europe – which similarly showed that the anti-elite hypothesis is less relevant when far-right parties join government coalitions – travel well to post-communist European countries. In Hungary and Poland, we even find that far-right voters have become less distrustful of national political institutions than the rest of the electorate. Our conclusion implies that anti-elite populism is context-dependent and has limited use for understanding successes of leaders such as Wilders, Salvini and Orbán.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1381
Author(s):  
Bekir Çakar

<p>Law enforcement administrators generally evaluate their performance using statistics related to crime control. These statistics are important indicators for measuring performance, but it is also crucial to measure of public opinions toward the police. This study examines the determinants of public trust in the police. Using data from the European Social Survey (ESS) Round 4, for the analysis, a total sample of 2,416 persons is selected from respondents from Turkey. The study provides a snapshot of citizens’ perceptions toward law enforcement. Overall, the results of this study regarding the demographic variables, including age, gender, marital status, and education, were consistent with previous research and proved to be significantly related to trust in the police. Surprisingly, perceived victimization failed to show a significant relationship. However, important predictors included perceived fear of crime and trust in the political system, which had significant impacts on public trust in the police. Especially, fear of crime was a significant predictor of satisfaction with police. Effective crime control and lowering crime rates are considered the core functions of law enforcement by citizens. Therefore, perceived effectiveness in fighting crime can lower individual fear of crime and thus increase satisfaction with law enforcement.<strong></strong></p>


2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Meyer

Taking credit for achieving some desirable outcome is an essential element of politics, and the stakes of doing so are particularly high for social protest movements. Popular narratives of social change assign some movements a critical role for promoting change, but ignore the influence of others. Winning acceptance of a preferred narrative of influence is a neglected, but important, social movement outcome. I use disparate stories of movement success in claiming credit to underscore the analytical problem of why some challengers end up deriving credit, both in the short and long term, for their efforts, while others don't. Movement activists and their competitors offer narratives of past influence as a kind of claims-making activity to serve current political goals. In this way, the process of claiming credit is analogous to that of establishing a reputation. I examine contextual factors likely to affect why some social movements, and some social movement actors, may be better positioned, or more interested, in promoting a narrative of their own influence than others. I argue that movement factions that place identifiable individuals in prominent positions in institutional politics are more likely to be able to promote their story of influence, but paradoxically this comes with a narrative that emphasizes the importance of mainstream politics. I conclude with a call for more research on the process and the outcomes of contests for credit.


Sociologija ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-261
Author(s):  
Stefan Jankovic ◽  
Milena Tokovic

Recent results from Round 9 of the European Social Survey (ESS) indicate that Serbia differs from other European countries in terms of justice and fairness. Whereas the Serbian people?s dissatisfaction relating to unjust income distribution, unfair employment chances and political institutions may not be surprising, these findings still raise a dozen questions. Situated within contemporary discussions on normativity in sociology and survey methodology, this paper aims to reassess the moral grammar of these judgments. By endorsing tenets of pragmatic sociology and its principal aim to recognize the plural modes of valuation and criticism and reflective capacities of social actors to judge and evaluate, this paper develops around few major points. First, we underline how most major approaches to axiology remain stuck in a co-determinist framework, thereby renewing a number of dualisms. Instead, we opt for a relational approach and further present how the theoretical model of Boltanski and Thev?not enables the locating of different assessments of worth. After setting our methodological framework against the ?externalist? epistemology, we explore our key assumption that the above-mentioned high rates come as a problem of a feasible ?truce? between the domestic regime and the civic polity, ruled by proclaimed legality, representativeness and impersonal character. We trace the problem of incorporating multiple arrangements as a problem of generality, by relating these to two layers of information acquired through the ESS. One involves the analysis of the domestic polity covering the household situation in terms of organization and unveiling the specific worth given to care and protection. Another layer is derived from regression analysis which affirms that the absence of fairness in civic polity correlates with a higher degree of worth given to the domestic one, but also that the latter situation depicts a deeper ontological puzzle about making a mild transition to the assumed ?horizontality? of civic matters.


2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoav Mehozay ◽  
Roni Factor

Objectives: The current research proposes that beliefs about the legitimacy of law enforcement authorities also derive from core normative values (i.e., notions of the good and virtuous life) that stem from deeply embedded cultural orientations through which individuals operate in and interpret the world. Methods: We developed a typology of four sets of core normative value systems using multiple correspondence analysis. Data are from the European Social Survey, including 52,253 respondents from 27 countries. Results: Three of the four sets of core normative values show an association with levels of legitimacy. Conclusions: The findings provide preliminary support for our model and indicate that legitimacy perceptions are associated with core normative values, which may extend beyond individuals’ perceptions of enforcement institutions. This means that even optimal procedural conduct or efficiency may not affect the attitudes of some populations, particularly in diverse, multicultural societies. Taking into consideration, the effects of internalized core values can help inform community interventions by the police and other institutions.


Pflege ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 233-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianfranco Zuaboni ◽  
Luciana Degano Kieser ◽  
Bernd Kozel ◽  
Katharina Glavanovits ◽  
Jörg Utschakowski ◽  
...  

Zusammenfassung. Hintergrund: Der Recovery-Ansatz gewinnt in der psychiatrischen Forschung und Praxis zunehmend an Bedeutung. Im englischen Sprachraum ist die praktische Etablierung und wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung fortgeschritten. Um die Implementierung des Ansatzes zu unterstützen, sind Einschätzungsinstrumente notwendig. Ein verbreitetes und anerkanntes Instrument ist die Recovery Self Assessment Scale (RSA). Diese besteht aus vier Versionen eines Fragebogens, welche die Perspektiven von Nutzenden, Fachpersonen, Angehörigen und dem Management erfassen. Ziel/Methode: In diesem Artikel werden die Entwicklung des Instrumentes und der Übersetzungsprozess dargestellt. Zwei voneinander unabhängige Arbeitsgruppen verwendeten unterschiedliche Übersetzungsverfahren: Die Arbeitsgruppe aus der Schweiz (AGS) orientierte sich an den ISOR-Prinzipien, die Arbeitsgruppe aus Norddeutschland (AGN) an den Richtlinien des European Social Survey Programme zur Übersetzung von Fragebögen – TRAPD. Die Methoden unterscheiden sich darin, dass die TRAPD Fokusgruppen vorsieht. Die Ergebnisse der Arbeitsgruppen wurden mittels eines Konsensusverfahrens zur RSA-D zusammengeführt. Ergebnisse: Bei der Übersetzung und kulturellen Anpassung der RSA-D wurde die Nähe zum theoretischen Bezugsrahmen der RSA gewahrt und die Übertragbarkeit in den deutschsprachigen Kontext berücksichtigt. Schlussfolgerung: Bevor die RSA-D in der Praxis und Forschung eingesetzt werden kann, sollte in weiterführenden Studien die psychometrische Testung erfolgen.


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.


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