In the current discourse it is frequently stated that in the course of European integration and globalisation we witness more intensified and more frequent transactions spanning across national borders. These assumptions relate not only to transactions in the economic sphere or to forms of political co-operation, but to the individual lifeworlds as well. Yet concerning the latter dimension, research into the patterns and dynamics of interpersonal interaction, relationships, and forms of mobility across national borders is scarce. This paper is a contribution towards filling this research lacuna. It addresses the question of the extent to which horizontal Europeanisation, understood as different forms of individual cross-border activities within the European Union, depends on characteristics at the country level. From a comparative perspective we will analyse the transnational mobility and cross-border networks of European citizens within a European context. Empirically, we refer to data from the Eurobarometer 65.1 (2006), which allows us to answer the question how certain contextual variables, such as internationalisation, modernisation, and characteristics such as the respective country's geography, affect people's participation in cross-border activities. Based on a sample of 25 European countries, we will demonstrate that geographic characteristics drive social transnationalism less than internationalisation, Europeanisation, and modernisation, which contribute to a proliferation of individual transnational activities across the European Union.
The article explores the extent to which the German population is involved intransnational networks of personal relationships. It is argued that ongoing processes of glo-balization have weakened the social cohesion of nation-states and engendered more andmore border-crossing transactions. In the paper, key empirical indicators are presented to de-monstrate the increased transnational interdependence at different societal levels. The empi-rical part presents results from a representative survey on the transnationalization of people’slife worlds conducted in spring 2006. According to our findings, almost half of the Germanpopulation has regular contact with at least one person living abroad. A closer look revealsthat equal proportions of private transnational relations are contacts between Germans andforeigners and contacts between Germans and other Germans living abroad. The analysis ofthe geographic structure of cross-border relationships shows a confined spatial dispersion ofcross-border ties. A large part of personal ties reaches into Western and economically power-ful states, while the non-OECD-countries play a negligible role. Thus, we can refer to a›First World transnationalization‹ of the cross-border networks of the German population
Reprinted by permission of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft
In the current public discourse the phenomenon of insecurity is widely discussed since various kinds of social risks are becoming more widespread throughout European societies threatening biographical stability and status security. Given this there is a quest for a realignment of state interventions aiming at the (reproduction of stability and security. It is assumed that institutional arrangements and interventions such as employment protection, income maintenance schemes and healthcare provision not only contribute to objective but also to subjective security. Using data from the European Social Survey 2008 for the labor force in 20 European nations, we test this assumption by scrutinizing three kinds of perceived social risks: the risk of job loss, the risk of lack of monetary means and the risk of insufficient healthcare provision. We take on a cross-national perspective and conduct ordinal multi-level regression analyses in order to measure the extent to which different levels of social policy interventions can be accounted for differences in subjective insecurity. We find that a high degree of employment protection - astomsliingly - does not enhance the perceived employment security significantly, whereas higher levels of social security spending and healthcare expenditure indeed go along with higher levels of subjective security. This relationship is moderated by the general level of economic development. Adapted from the source document. Reprinted by permission of VS Verlag fÃŒr Sozialwissenschaften, Germany; In the current public discourse the phenomenon of insecurity is widely discussed since various kinds of social risks are becoming more widespread throughout European societies threatening biographical stability and status security. Given this there is a quest for a realignment of state interventions aiming at the (re-)production of stability and security. It is assumed that institutional arrangements and interventions such as employment protection, income maintenance schemes and healthcare provision not only contribute to objective but also to subjective security. Using data from the European Social Survey 2008 for the labor force in 20 European nations, we test this assumption by scrutinizing three kinds of perceived social risks: the risk of job loss, the risk of lack of monetary means and the risk of insufficient healthcare provision. We take on a cross-national perspective and conduct ordinal multi-level regression analyses in order to measure the extent to which different levels of social policy interventions can be accounted for differences in subjective insecurity. We find that a high degree of employment protection-astonishingly-does not enhance the perceived employment security significantly, whereas higher levels of social security spending and healthcare expenditure indeed go along with higher levels of subjective security. This relationship is moderated by the general level of economic development.; In the current public discourse the phenomenon of insecurity is widely discussed since various kinds of social risks are becoming more widespread throughout European societies threatening biographical stability and status security. Given this there is a quest for a realignment of state interventions aiming at the (reproduction of stability and security. It is assumed that institutional arrangements and interventions such as employment protection, income maintenance schemes and healthcare provision not only contribute to objective but also to subjective security. Using data from the European Social Survey 2008 for the labor force in 20 European nations, we test this assumption by scrutinizing three kinds of perceived social risks: the risk of job loss, the risk of lack of monetary means and the risk of insufficient healthcare provision. We take on a cross-national perspective and conduct ordinal multi-level regression analyses in order to measure the extent to which different levels of social policy interventions can be accounted for differences in subjective insecurity. We find that a high degree of employment protection – astomsliingly – does not enhance the perceived employment security significantly, whereas higher levels of social security spending and healthcare expenditure indeed go along with higher levels of subjective security. This relationship is moderated by the general level of economic development. Adapted from the source document.; In the current public discourse the phenomenon of insecurity is widely discussed since various kinds of social risks are becoming more widespread throughout European societies threatening biographical stability and status security. Given this there is a quest for a realignment of state interventions aiming at the (reproduction of stability and security. It is assumed that institutional arrangements and interventions such as employment protection, income maintenance schemes and healthcare provision not only contribute to objective but also to subjective security. Using data from the European Social Survey 2008 for the labor force in 20 European nations, we test this assumption by scrutinizing three kinds of perceived social risks: the risk of job loss, the risk of lack of monetary means and the risk of insufficient healthcare provision. We take on a cross-national perspective and conduct ordinal multi-level regression analyses in order to measure the extent to which different levels of social policy interventions can be accounted for differences in subjective insecurity. We find that a high degree of employment protection – astomsliingly – does not enhance the perceived employment security significantly, whereas higher levels of social security spending and healthcare expenditure indeed go along with higher levels of subjective security. This relationship is moderated by the general level of economic development. Adapted from the source document.
The phenomenon of socio-economic insecurity is widely discussed in contemporary public and academic discourse. However, it is unclear how objective socio-economic and institutional conditions affect subjective feelings of insecurity. Based on a review of the relevant literature, we hypothesize that objective contextual factors of labour market characteristics, levels of social protection and levels of internationalization and globalization exacerbate or mitigate subjective feelings of insecurity. We derive and test specific hypotheses using data from the fourth round of the European Social Survey (fielded 2008/2009). Based on our multilevel analysis of 18 412 individuals in 19 countries, we find that socio-economic (GDP) and institutional (welfare state effort) factors are relevant to subjective socio-economic insecurity, whereas the degree of internationalization (economic globalization, share of foreign-born population) plays a surprisingly negligible role. Moreover, significant cross-level interactions among social class and income inequality, unemployment, labour market regulation and economic globalization indicate that these country-level factors have a class-specific impact.
Within the scope of the debate surrounding globalization, ever increasing attention is being directed to the growth of border-crossing social relations and the emergence of transnational social spaces on the micro-level. In particular, the question of how these border-crossing interrelations influence the attitudes and values of the people involved causes some controversy. Some assume that the increasing transnationalization of social relations will foster the development of cosmopolitan attitudes, while others warn that renationalization may also be a result. On the empirical level, the relationship between transnationalization and cosmopolitanism has so far only been addressed with regard to certain groups or specific circumstances. However, we assume that on the general level there is a positive relation between the two syndromes and address this question empirically on the level of the entire German population. On the basis of a representative survey of German citizens carried out in 2006, we find that people with border-crossing experiences and transnational social relations are more likely to adopt cosmopolitan attitudes with respect to foreigners and global governance. The analysis shows that this general interrelation remains stable even when controlling for relevant socio-economic variables. Reprinted by permission of Blackwell Publishers; Within the scope of the debate surrounding globalization, ever increasing attention is being directed to the growth of border-crossing social relations and the emergence of transnational social spaces on the micro-level. In particular, the question of how these border-crossing interrelations influence the attitudes and values of the people involved causes some controversy. Some assume that the increasing trans-nationalization of social relations will foster the development of cosmopolitan attitudes, while others warn that renationalization may also be a result. On the empirical level, the relationship between transnationalization and cosmopolitanism has so far only been addressed with regard to certain groups or specific circumstances. However, we assume that on the general level there is a positive relation between the two syndromes and address this question empirically on the level of the entire German population. On the basis of a representative survey of German citizens carried out in 2006, we find that people with border-crossing experiences and transnational social relations are more likely to adopt cosmopolitan attitudes with respect to foreigners and global governance. The analysis shows that this general interrelation remains stable even when controlling for relevant socio-economic variables.; Within the scope of the debate surrounding globalization, ever increasing attention is being directed to the growth of border-crossing social relations and the emergence of transnational social spaces on the micro-level. In particular, the question of how these border-crossing interrelations influence the attitudes and values of the people involved causes some controversy. Some assume that the increasing trans-nationalization of social relations will foster the development of cosmopolitan attitudes, while others warn that renationalization may also be a result. On the empirical level, the relationship between transnationalization and cosmopolitanism has so far only been addressed with regard to certain groups or specific circumstances. However, we assume that on the general level there is a positive relation between the two syndromes and address this question empirically on the level of the entire German population. On the basis of a representative survey of German citizens carried out in 2006, we find that people with border-crossing experiences and transnational social relations are more likely to adopt cosmopolitan attitudes with respect to foreigners and global governance. The analysis shows that this general interrelation remains stable even when controlling for relevant socio-economic variables. Adapted from the source document.
© 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd & Global Networks Partnership
In modern societies accelerated processes of globalisation and transnationalisation continuously extend the areas of contacts between people of different origins. From Allport’s contact theory we know that under certain conditions such intergroup contacts may entail a reduction of prejudices and negative attitudes towards foreigners. Yet, up to now this link has mainly been researched for those contacts which take place within a given country and in relation to ethnic minorities. In the recent years, border-crossing contacts between people of different citizenships have also increased, however. Based on a representative survey, we explore to what extent different forms of cross-border mobility and the existence of private relationships between German citizens and people living in other countries affect attitudes towards foreigners. In addition, we compare the impact of these transnational contacts with the impact of those taking place within Germany alone. Our analysis reveals that with the exception of intergroup contacts at the working place all forms of intergroup contacts have a positive influence on the attitudes in question. Especially the existence of private intergroup contacts within the
© Swiss Sociological Association
This article deals with the question as to whether gender equality in labour force participation affects generalized trust. Following the seminal work of Rothstein and Uslaner, a first hypothesis maintains that gender employment equality positively impacts generalized trust. Based on insights from intergroup contact theory and the affect theory of social exchange, a second hypothesis argues that the relationship between gender employment equality and generalized trust holds only for women. Bayesian multilevel regression analysis based on cross-national survey data from the first five rounds of the European Social Survey (2002–2010) supports the latter hypothesis, showing that a country’s level of gender equality in labour force participation mediates the association between gender and generalized trust. In contrast, there is no evidence for a general impact of gender employment equality on trust in strangers.
Von sozialen Netzwerken wird oftmals angenommen, dass sie gleichsam einen Schutzschild gegenüber der viel beschworenen Zweck-Mittel-Rationalität moderner Gesellschaften bilden. Doch werden nicht auch die Gelegenheitsstrukturen informeller Beziehungen durch die Sozialstruktur geprägt? Jan Mewes geht dieser Frage nach und untersucht, inwiefern die Schichtzugehörigkeit der Individuen die Strukturierung ihrer sozialen Netzwerke beeinflusst. Dabei zeigt sich, dass Angehörige unterer sozialer Schichten einem erhöhten Risiko der ‚doppelten Exklusion’ unterliegen, setzt sich ihre gesellschaftliche Benachteiligung doch auch auf der Ebene persönlicher Beziehungen fort.
This article addresses the question of whether globalization impacts individual preferences to exclude immigrants from national welfare systems (‘welfare chauvinism’). Intergroup contact theory and arguments from the ‘new cosmopolitanism’ debate suggest that cross-border social contacts (‘social globalization’) foster a willingness to include and accept newcomers. However, group conflict theory suggests that trade openness (‘economic globalization’) can unleash feelings of insecurity and trigger welfare chauvinism. While these approaches point in different directions, we argue that the impact of globalization on welfare chauvinism differs across socio-economic status groups. Using cross-national data from the European Social Survey 2008/2009, we find scarce support for the hypothesis that social globalization reduces welfare chauvinism in general. However, there is evidence that it diminishes exclusionary attitudes among those with relatively high socio-economic statuses. Moreover, we find no general evidence for an impact of economic globalization on chauvinism, but a positive interaction of intensified engagement with global market forces and higher socio-economic status.