Across the globe there is growing skepticism about the usefulness of GDP as a measure of national well-being. Consequently, several alternative quality-of-life (QOL) measures were developed which either aim at healing the GDP, complementing it, or replacing it. This chapter portrays some of...

Im Rahmen eines einjährigen Entwicklungsprozesses wurde das Fragebogenmodul "Einstellungen zu sozialer Ungleichheit" unter der Leitung der Infrastruktureinrichtung SOEP entwickelt und in der 38. Welle der Haupterhebung des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels erstmalig erhoben. Das finale Fragebogenmodul...

Although social integration has always been a central sociological issue, there has never been a consensus how to approach the topic empirically. In the new millennium, social cohesion has emerged as a lead concept for measuring how integrated societies are—not the least, because many...

Across the globe there is growing skepticism about the usefulness of GDP as a measure of national well-being. Consequently, several alternative quality-of-life (QOL) measures were developed which either aim at healing the GDP, complementing it, or replacing it. This chapter portrays some of...

In sociology, the appropriateness of national approaches for understanding social inequality in today's societies is being increasingly questioned, and EU-wide approaches are advocated instead. In this paper, we link the growing debate about national or EU-wide approaches to reference group...

Cross-national comparative analysis of generalised social trust in 60 countries shows that it is associated with, and is an integral part of, a tight syndrome of cultural, social, economic, and political variables. High trust countries are characterized by ethnic homogeneity, Protestant...

This paper analyses the impact enlargements have had on the integration of the European Union (EU). For this purpose, integration was conceptualised as the sense of community across national boundaries and measured as interpersonal trust between EU nationalities. Eurobarometer surveys form the...

European countries are becoming increasingly politically integrated and the process of integration has accelerated in recent years. But how much social integration is there within the Community? This article supplies a definition of European social integration, and thereby lays down the...

This paper* deals with attitudes towards inequality in cross-national perspective using survey data of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) of 1992. Factor analysis shows that perceptions and evaluations of inequality and stratification refer to four attitudinal dimensions:...