Abstract This special issue of the International Journal of Sociology explores political voice in Europe from qualitative and quantitative methods. Political voice is the expression of interests in the political sphere and refers to both participation and representation. The four papers of this special issue feature recent work from political sociologists at the Graduate School for Social Research

Abstract It is commonly agreed, flexible work arrangements (FWA) could bring many benefits to both employees and employers. With the increased prevalence of team-based work structures, collaborative jobs with limited independence may also limit the advantages of FWA. This research is designed to investigate the moderating effect of perceived work independence in the relationship between different flexible

Abstract This article examines the development of anti-transgender debates within the United Kingdom, which have gained traction due to proposed amendments to the country’s Gender Recognition Act (GRA). A group of determined lobby groups, taking their lead from like-minded organizations in the United States, has protested vigorously against the proposed changes to the GRA, especially with respect to

Abstract To explain protest potential, the Structural Cognitive Model (SCM) suggests (i) a multi-level interaction between economic and political contexts (“structure”) and individual-level social psychological factors (“cognitive”) such that (ii) macro-level factors can amplify or dampen individual and group protest potential. This model has few cross-national tests because many of the cognitive concepts

Abstract When analyzing the relationship between individual religiosity and attitudes toward immigration, empirical research often leads to contrasting findings. By focusing on contemporary Italy, our contribution aims to provide evidence of two opposite effects that religiosity can exert on attitudes toward immigration. On the one hand, belonging to a religious community is expected to reinforce a

Abstract This article investigates the relationships between ethnicity, class, and prospects of educational success. For this purpose, we compared the effects of family socio-economic characteristics on children's educational attainment in four ethno-religious groups in Israel (Muslim, Christian, and Druze Palestinians; Jews). Information from the 1995 census on the households with at least one child

Abstract This report focuses on the discursive opportunity structure of Fridays for Future in the United States and Germany. We will show that the movement's frame resonance relies strongly on the differential receptivity of both countries' political and communicative institutions for the findings of climate science. The first part presents how climate science shapes the framing of Fridays for Future

Abstract Under conditions of electoral authoritarianism, in what ways do individuals’ dissatisfaction with democracy influence their probability of political action? In the early 2000s, President Vladimir Putin consolidated his power and Russia descended into electoral authoritarianism. In this closed political opportunity structure, through which the government worked to silence political opposition

Abstract Social movements aim to change society, but whether they actually cause change is difficult for researchers to assess. A social constructionist approach can add to the understanding of social movement outcomes by allowing the activists themselves to define these consequences. I demonstrate the utility of this approach with a qualitative study of the social movement actors who attempted to

Abstract Current study investigates the gender gap in academic promotions in Turkey taking a new perspective on the widely established existence of gender inequality in academia. The dataset includes the eight most-prominent research universities in Turkey and the nature of the ‘glass ceiling’ is explored by looking at the gendered distributions of: (1) academic seats -indicating academic performances

Abstract To challenge the commonly made assumption in cross-national survey projects that close translation yields more comparable data than adaptation, we implemented a translation experiment in the CROss-National Online Survey Panel. The English source questionnaire was split into three batches of 20 items each and was translated by three translation teams into Estonian and three teams into Slovene

Abstract As societies become more diverse, especially with inflows of immigrants, some research finds lowered social trust as an inclusive integration eludes countries, cities, and neighborhoods. But previous research finds this diversity–trust link to be highly variable across studies and in particular across geographic scales. One under-studied scale is that of cities, even though trust is essential

Abstract The article focuses on the identity transformation of “the people” in the right-wing populist movement PEGIDA as a social force shaping populist discourse in Germany. The methodical approach, assuming the people as the sum of heterogeneous individuals, is criticized due to the confusion and discrepancies arising between statistical and experienced realities. Following Laclau’s theory of populism

Using a unique and previously untapped dataset of telegrams sent to student hunger strikers in Soviet Ukraine, this article examines spatial dispersion of civil resistance in a repressive political...

The article deals with research on the attitudes, reactions and behavior of the Slovenian population in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic with regard to general trust and trust in the Slovenian ...

This study examines whether and how the lockdown due to the Covid-19 epidemic affected the division of household activities between partners in a sample of dual-earner heterosexual couples in Italy...

The quarter century following the historic 1994 elections in South Africa and the establishment of a democratic dispensation was a period of transformative change. During this time, nation-building...

Abstract Most studies that focus on heating-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions do so with either a focus on technical aspects or a focus on heating-related attitudes and behavior. Either way, they assign little attention to the influence of sociodemographic factors. However, if an integrated understanding of the sociological factors behind heating-related GHG emissions is to be developed, the interrelationship

Abstract The norm of parenthood in a heteronormative union expects individuals to become parents as a preordained milestone in their life-course. This norm emanates from the ideology of pronatalism that promotes procreation for the well-being of the individual, family and society. The present paper is set against varying yet converging manifestations of pronatalistism in India and Canada, as evident

Abstract This study examines nonresident parents' contact with their children in Hungary during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted 22 semi-structured interviews with 14 nonresidential fathers, 3 resident mothers and 5 parents who have shared custody arrangements in order to reveal whether this unique situation had any effects on their contact patterns and whether online contact became more widespread

Abstract Over the seven decades since the passing of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (UNGC), our understanding of both genocide as a crime and perpetrator motivation has evolved. The definition of genocide as a punishable crime and the typologies of its perpetrators have become increasingly varied and complicated; as such, scholars have provided

Abstract Through case study analyses a small body of research has focused on the role the internet plays in radicalizing potential lone wolf terrorists. However, scholars have yet to examine how internet connectivity influences terrorism cross-nationally. Thus, this project attempts to address that limitation. This paper examines the effect internet connectivity has on domestic terrorism in 80 democracies

Abstract On 18 October 2019, after weeks of subway fare evasions in a protest for a fare increase, protesters occupied some stations of the Metropolitan Public Transport Network in Santiago, Chile’s capital city. An explosive and surprising escalation of violence ensued later that night marking the beginning of an ongoing social crisis that extended to other regions of the country, and reshaped, probably

Abstract Since the 1990s, the indigenous movement has been the most active social movement in Ecuador. However, the years after 2000 were marked by rather small and punctual mobilizations, instead of big national uprisings. This changed with the national strike of October 2019 that was partially led by a rejuvenated indigenous movement with new leaders and a renewed discourse that build a broad alliance

Abstract Anthropogenic climate change has provoked worldwide responses to address existing and impending dangers to the natural world and society. The rapid expansion of solar energy in recent decades has emerged as a viable alternative for generating electricity and is largely responsible for the steady growth in overall renewable energy expansion worldwide. In this paper, I examine factors influencing

Abstract The specialty of our paper, based on the Hungarian survey of ISSP 2017 is that (1) we only focus on a single (the planning) phase of the migration process, (2) we use the concept of network capital, which fits the strategic features of the migration potential phenomenon, (3) we estimate the impact of the size of Ego’s network and that of the respondents’ strong and weak ties on the migration

Abstract Amidst debates about national unity and cultural diversity, this paper examines whether and when people living in a highly diverse country self-identify as a member of their nation, their ethno-cultural group, or with both (dual self-identification). Two large-scale studies with nationally representative data of the Mauritian population show that a clear majority demonstrates dual self-identification

Abstract Analyses regularly document that even in advanced post-industrial societies social networks are relied on when searching for a job or borrowing money, particularly in situations of uncertainty. Our main goal within this paper is to test whether the preference for strong ties when looking for a job and borrowing money varies systematically between individuals and countries. We test if this

Abstract This study focuses on attitudes related to fulfilling family obligations and their relationships to migration behavior. We hypothesize that men who highly value fulfilling family obligations will be more likely to migrate in order to fulfill material obligations while women who highly value fulfilling family obligations will be less likely to migrate in order to fulfill care obligations. The

Abstract This contribution complements the special issue on the 2017 ISSP survey on social networks and social resources by presenting a comprehensive overview of its results at the country level. Our analysis comprises a summary of the respondents’ views on social trust and cohesion, the size and diversity their social network, their subjective health and life satisfaction, as well as the frequency

Abstract Past cross-national research has shown that health status does not exclusively depend on biology-related variables, but also on social capital measures, such as interpersonal trust and social participation. However, this literature has not considered network support, an important pillar of social capital when it is understood as access to resources within members of a network. In this article

Abstract This special issue introduces the 2017 Social Networks and Social Resources module of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). This module has been newly developed based on specific, up-to-date theoretical and methodological foundations. Within certain limits the designers of this module aimed at allowing comparisons with the previously fielded ISSP modules on Social Networks from 1986

Abstract We theorize that people’s perceptions of national hierarchy are aligned not only with longstanding cultural schemas of development but also with schemas of cultural wealth. We use data from the Nation Brands Index surveys to examine how European publics’ evaluate their own country and other European countries across many attributes. We find that European publics rank northwest European countries

Abstract This paper is about the impact of social bonding on subjective wellbeing. Statistical analysis of the 2017 ISSP module data from 30 member societies provides the following findings. First, the 30 societies show a large variation in measures of social bonding and subjective wellbeing. Second, an individual’s subjective wellbeing is significantly higher when he/she is socially engaged as compared

Abstract Set against growing interest and advances in relation to multinational, multiregional, and multicultural (3MC) survey research, this paper will reflect on some of the survey challenges that inevitably confront the survey scientist in South Africa. South Africa is a heterogeneous, multicultural society with a variety of socio-economic problems and large inequalities and endeavors to collect

Abstract Inequalities in social capital are accepted today as important aspects of social and economic prosperity. This analysis utilizes global comparative data from the International Social Survey Program and finds substantial variation in the three types of social capital across social classes, in a cross-country perspective as well as among two types of societies, 10 high-trust and 13 low-trust

The paper starts from the thesis that unhindered international communication is a central characteristic of modern science. Second, the paper argues that scientific progress cannot be defined unequivocally in the social sciences. Four structures inhibit free international communication (linguistic barriers, the size of a national sociological community, the quality of scientific research, and the influence

The problems of survey design and sampling in India are multi-fold and most of the time unexplained to the text-book methods which are normally derived in many homogenous societies. There are many localized problems which are not worked into the theories, hypotheses and practicalities of survey design and research. Major practical problems such as multiple languages and dialects, low education, seasonal

This article contributes to methodological discussions of monitoring interviewer-administered surveys during fieldwork on wife abuse in India. Researchers collecting primary data often have to navigate unfamiliar social and cultural norms of conduct, travel to remote locations and have to obtain fluency in multiple languages to begin the process of conducting interviews. Further, conducting interviews

Culturally diverse workplaces are becoming commonplace. Amidst growing concerns about workplace racism and discrimination in multicultural societies like Australia, how positive relationships across difference at work are built has not been clearly understood. This article contributes to this discussion by exploring the development of cross-cultural conviviality in the Australian welfare workplace

In Western European countries, studies on the relationship between class position and political outlooks so far have a limited understanding of the relevance of class analysis, while in semiperipheral countries, like Croatia, research on class-related mechanisms and political behavior is modest, with a clear deficit of empirical research. The main goal of class analysis is to have the potential to

Some scholars see class as increasingly irrelevant in shaping opinions toward inequality, while others maintain that it endures. However, what is often problematic with research in this area is the conflation of class and status. Further, contemporary accounts of peoples’ perceptions of inequality often draw on insights from stratification or from political affiliation but do not consider the interplay

It has been studied that there are many young immigrants who are at risk of being marginalized in Finnish Lapland. There are less opportunities for participating in activities in northern Finland, access to the local labor market is difficult, and there are few activities that support the youth immigrant’s own culture. These dilemmas may have regional differences, but the economic prospects for living

In this article we show that perceptions of corruption and the experience of bribery are related theoretically and empirically at the individual level, although the magnitude of this association relies on two context variables, country-level corruption and press freedom. For that purpose, we propose a sociological approach to understand how people form “mental images” of corruption beyond (as well

This issue of International Journal of Sociology is the second special issue (after 49/2) that centers on scholarship that draws on the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) Role of Government (ROG) module. The ROG module was the first ISSP survey and has been fielded five times: 1985, 1990, 1996, 2006, and 2016. As guest editors, we want to thank the editor-in-chief, Markus Hadler, for being

This contribution presents descriptive findings on individual attitudes and public opinion based on the International Social Survey Program Role of Government module. It covers the period from 1985 to 2016 and is guided by the idea that attitudes and opinions are aligned with the international divisions in different welfare regimes. The analysis includes all countries that fielded this ISSP survey

Recent studies assume that the middle class’s commitment to the welfare state has gradually eroded through the implementation of neoliberal policies. This article takes a more nuanced view by addressing the increasing heterogeneity within the middle class. It first shows that large segments of the middle class hold composite attitudes toward public spending. Small business owners combine moderate support

The United States has not developed a comprehensive welfare state, unlike most other Western countries. This has been subject to a number of different interpretations. One of the prominent theories is that Americans carry a special creed of individuality and liberty that can be traced back to the establishment of the American nation-state. This cultural “American exceptionalism” is argued to be a hindrance

While it is becoming increasingly evident that environmental problems such as climate change and global warming constitute existential threats to human societies, these problems will very likely persist and even intensify unless governments enact effective and potentially costly environmental policies. However, government policies and spending ultimately rely on public support, thus underscoring the

The Role of Government (ROG) module of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is a unique high-quality data source for comparative research on political attitudes and orientations. This article describes the content, coverage, and history of the ISSP 2016 ROG module, which was fielded in 35 countries. The module has been fielded five times since its inception in 1985, and a majority of the

Equivalence in survey design and implementation is a core issue in cross-national research. Construct equivalence deals with the validity of concepts measured by survey questions and is a prerequisite for meaningful cross-national analyses. Since respondents are socialized in different cultures and political systems, their interpretation of concepts in the same way cannot be taken for granted. This

This article deals with the consistency of the attitudinal structure of environmental concern in cross-national comparison using structural equation models (SEM) with International Social Survey Program (ISSP) 2010 data. Multiple group confirmatory factor analysis is used to explore measurement invariance and to test the cross-national consistency of the relationship between environmental attitudes

Research has shown that neoliberal economic policies may increase violence. In this study we extend this logic to create a “neoliberalism-homicide hypothesis.” We test this hypothesis using two global measures of neoliberalism (the Economic Freedom of the World Index and the Index of Economic Freedom) and 2014 homicide rates for 142 nations. Regression analysis provides little support for the neoliberalism-homicide

Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data are used to examine what predicts current contraception and condom use among married women in Ghana. Women’s gender-based power is examined in the three dimensions of interpersonal decision-making power, household status, and socioeconomic status; these dimensions are considered as predictor or focal variables. Ghanaian women’s higher sexual decision-making

Research on how the public is willing to make sacrifices for the environment is increasingly prominent worldwide. For most cross-national studies, researchers used either one year’s worth of data or multiple years of data but focused exclusively on World Values Survey (WVS) or International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) data. The conclusions drawn from these studies are not generalizable because a

This study presents an empirical cross-national analysis of the influence of fossil fuel (or carbon) dependence on climate change public opinion using ordinary least squares and robust regression modeling of aggregate, national-level data from Gallup World Poll surveys conducted in 2010. These provide measures of public awareness, perceived risk, and perceived human cause of climate change among general

This study advances the current understanding of why many citizens do not display a high level of commitment to protecting the environment. We examine cross-national differences in the salience of attitudinal and behavioral profiles distinguished by their comparably low levels of pro-environmental behavior, in both the public and private spheres. Based on theories of postmaterialism and collective

Presenting a comprehensive measurement instrument of 12 statements expressing resentments toward Americans and America, this study shows that anti-Americanism can be conceptualized as a robust and stable attitude transcending everyday politics. In a test-retest design applied in Germany in 2011 and 2012, we found a fair to moderate temporal stability of anti-American attitudes. Furthermore, we tested