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:...

With EU membership, politicians as well as citizens in the accession countries hope to achieve improvements in living conditions and – at least in the long run – to catch up with the West European societies. Catch-up modernization of the less advanced member states is also an ”official”...

It is essential that the new democracies of post-communist Central and Eastern Europe enjoy the full support of their citizenry. Among social scientists there is an ongoing debate about which conditions ensure mass support. Is political output, like individual freedom, or economic output, like...

This paper deals with the issue of poverty in a comparative and multidimensional perspective. Based on Townsend’s concept of relative deprivation, we analyse what people can afford compared to their perceived necessities for decent living. We will analyse definitions of living standard and...

This paper identifies six main theories of the determinants of social trust, and tests them against survey data from seven nations, 1999-2001. Three of the six theories of trust fare rather poorly and three do better. First and foremost, social trust tends to be high among citizens who believe...

As Europe is growing together politically and economically, the international perspective is becoming more and more important in social reporting and welfare research. Are there strong differences in the objective living conditions and the subjective well-being between European nations? Do the...