14 research outputs found
European Disunion? Social and Economic Divergence in Europe, and their Political Consequences
The principal component of a European social model was considered to be convergence of social outcomes toward the top. However, the latest economic and social trends are no longer characterized by a steady narrowing of the gap between the more and lesser advanced countries. While all European countries were affected by the economic crisis of 2008 and a coordinated response was put into place in 2009, since 2010, we see a growing divergence between two groups of countries in Europe. The first group, mainly in the North of Europe, concentrated around Germany, Austria, the Nordic countries, along with certain Eastern European countries having close economic ties to Germany, has steadily emerged from the crisis and resumed a positive economic and social path. The second group, however, comprised mainly of the Southern and Eastern periphery, remains stuck in negative economic and social situations following the crisis. This chapter demonstrates the initial economic convergence, followed by a stark divergence in certain economic and social outcomes after the crisis of 2008. It reviews the various explanations for these divergences. Finally, it considers the political outcomes of this economic and social dualization. We argue that despite the seemingly uniform rise of populist anti-EU challengers across Europe, these challengers differ significantly in the grievances they raise. Radical right parties are dominant in the center, while radical left parties outperform the radical right in the periphery, a dynamic that constitutes a second, political, dualization of Europe.DOI : ..
New Social Risks, Social Policies, and Dualization in the Contemporary Welfare State
In recent years, much attention has been given in the welfare state literature to the presence of new social risks in postindustrial political economies and the growing divide between those deemed to be insiders and outsiders. In fact, the term new social risks arguably signifies one of the defining areas of contemporary research on welfare state adaptations in advanced affluent democracies. In this dissertation, I examine how the various worlds of welfare provision---specifically, social policy tools---affect the well-being of new social risk groups, and whether we are indeed witnessing an emergence of labor market and welfare state outsiders. I investigate the determinants of outsiderness expressed as single parent income, child poverty rate, and youth unemployment. I analyze the effects of social policies on the likelihood of being poor among low-skilled populations. I find that social policies such as active and passive labor market policies, family policies, and government daycare spending are effective at combating new social risks. Employment protection legislation may impede low-skilled young people from escaping poverty. Lastly, this dissertation considers the case of Germany and probes the extent to which a divide between labor market insiders and outsiders has cemented there over time, whether the welfare state (via taxes and transfers) exacerbates or ameliorates this dualism, and indeed, whether labor market dualization---an individual-level phenomenon---translates into dualization of the welfare state---a phenomenon that is necessarily measured at the household levelDoctor of Philosoph
Outsiderness, Social Class, and Votes in the 2014 European Elections
Votes have for a long time been considered to be structured by class conflict. However, in the 2014 European elections, vote does not seem to be significantly structured by traditional class. Instead, contemporary European societies face the melting down of the traditional working class and an increasing dualism between labour market âinsidersâ and âoutsidersâ. How do these socio-economic changes translate into politics? Building on the emerging literature on outsiderness and a survey conducted after the European elections of 2014, this article shows that traditional class divides have a limited electoral impact and that the insider-outsider divide tends to have only ânegativeâ effects, decreasing voting turnout as well as support for the major right wing parties. The best predictor of voting behaviour is the subjective assessment by the respondents of their social position and its upward or downward trajectory.Les votes ont longtemps Ă©tĂ© considĂ©rĂ©s comme structurĂ©s par les conflits de classe. Toutefois, lors des Ă©lections europĂ©ennes de 2014, le vote ne semble pas significativement structurĂ© par les classes sociales. Les sociĂ©tĂ©s post-industrielles sont au contraire confrontĂ©es au dĂ©clin de la classe ouvriĂšre traditionnelle et au dualisme croissant sur le marchĂ© du travail entre individus protĂ©gĂ©s (insiders) et individus exposĂ©s (outsiders). Comment ces changements socio-Ă©conomiques se traduisent-ils dans le champ politiqueâ? Ă partir de la littĂ©rature Ă©mergente sur la prĂ©caritĂ© et des donnĂ©es dâun sondage conduit aprĂšs les Ă©lections europĂ©ennes de 2014, cet article montre que les clivages de classe traditionnels ont un impact limitĂ© sur les comportements Ă©lectoraux et que la distinction entre insiders et outsiders a surtout des effets nĂ©gatifs, accroissant lâabstention et diminuant le soutien aux grands partis de droite. Le meilleur facteur explicatif des votes est lâĂ©valuation subjective par les rĂ©pondants de leur position sociale et de sa trajectoire ascendante ou descendante
Outsiders at the ballot box: operationalizations and political consequences of the insiderâoutsider dualism
Recently, developed economies have witnessed an emerging dualism between the so-called labor market âinsiders and outsidersââtwo groups facing divergent levels of employment security and prospects. Those on the âinsideâ occupy stable jobs, while those on the âoutsideâ confront increased levels of social and economic risks. There are, however, various prominent, but divergent, operationalizations of the insiderâoutsider phenomenon. While some scholars opt for indicators rooted in current labor market status of individuals, others prefer to consider occupational class groups as bases of the insiderâoutsider divide. As these operationalizations of outsiderness capture different profiles of outsiders, we test the extent to which they lead to consistent or inconsistent conclusions about electoral behavior. The article yields two consistent findings that are robust across all the operationalizations: that outsiders are less likely to vote for major right parties than are insiders, and that outsiders are more likely to abstain from voting. Additionally, we find that occupation-based outsiders tend to support radical right parties, while status-based outsiders rather opt for radical left partiesâa finding supported by the association between social risk and authoritarian preferences. We test our expectations using multinomial logit models estimating vote choice on the first five waves of the European Social Survey from 2002 to 2010 across western Europe
The Dual Dualization of Europe: Economic Convergence, Divergence, and their Political Consequences
This item has no abstrac
The Dual Dualization of Europe:Economic Convergence, Divergence, and their Political Consequences
This item has no abstrac
Outsiderness, Social Class, and Votes in the 2014 European Elections
Votes have for a long time been considered to be structured by class conflict. However, in the 2014 European elections, vote does not seem to be significantly structured by traditional class. Instead, contemporary European societies face the melting down of the traditional working class and an increasing dualism between labour market âinsidersâ and âoutsidersâ. How do these socio-economic changes translate into politics? Building on the emerging literature on outsiderness and a survey conducted after the European elections of 2014, this article shows that traditional class divides have a limited electoral impact and that the insider-outsider divide tends to have only ânegativeâ effects, decreasing voting turnout as well as support for the major right wing parties. The best predictor of voting behaviour is the subjective assessment by the respondents of their social position and its upward or downward trajectory.Les votes ont longtemps Ă©tĂ© considĂ©rĂ©s comme structurĂ©s par les conflits de classe. Toutefois, lors des Ă©lections europĂ©ennes de 2014, le vote ne semble pas significativement structurĂ© par les classes sociales. Les sociĂ©tĂ©s post-industrielles sont au contraire confrontĂ©es au dĂ©clin de la classe ouvriĂšre traditionnelle et au dualisme croissant sur le marchĂ© du travail entre individus protĂ©gĂ©s (insiders) et individus exposĂ©s (outsiders). Comment ces changements socio-Ă©conomiques se traduisent-ils dans le champ politiqueâ? Ă partir de la littĂ©rature Ă©mergente sur la prĂ©caritĂ© et des donnĂ©es dâun sondage conduit aprĂšs les Ă©lections europĂ©ennes de 2014, cet article montre que les clivages de classe traditionnels ont un impact limitĂ© sur les comportements Ă©lectoraux et que la distinction entre insiders et outsiders a surtout des effets nĂ©gatifs, accroissant lâabstention et diminuant le soutien aux grands partis de droite. Le meilleur facteur explicatif des votes est lâĂ©valuation subjective par les rĂ©pondants de leur position sociale et de sa trajectoire ascendante ou descendante