Download Income Inequality and Affective Social Solidarity

Research Seminar
Solidarity and Diversity
Income Inequality and
Affective Social Solidarity
Marii Paškov & Caroline Dewilde
UvA/AISSR
November 29, 2010
Amsterdam
Aim of the Paper
•
Make a distinction between calculating and affective
solidarity (Beer and Koster, 2009)
•
Relate calculating and affective solidarity to research
studying attitudes towards the welfare state
•
Focus on Affective Solidarity
Rodger (2003): Research on popular support for the welfare state has
overlooked the question of how people feel
•
Study the relationship between income inequality and
affective solidarity
Solidarity
Calculating
• Economic approach
Affective
• Sociological approach
• Self-interest – rationally
calculating individuals
• Feeling of affection,
sympathy, care and concern
for others
• Fostered by awareness of
mutual dependence
• Fostered by a sense of
community, fellowship and
neighborliness, strive for a
common good
Welfare State and Solidarity
• Calculating Solidarity
– Self-interest and mutual dependence
(interdependency) (De Swaan, 1988)
• Affective Solidarity
– Expresses concern, care and a wish to assist the
survival of others (Titmuss, 1976)
Measuring Attitudes towards the
Welfare State
• Demand for redistribution
• E.g. ‘government should take measures to reduce
differences in income levels’
• Blurry variable  Inconsistent results
E.g. Finseraas, 2009; Lane Kenworthy & McCall, 2008; Lübker, 2007
• ‘Dependent variable’ challenge (Jæger, 2006):
difficulty of creating exhaustive dependent variables
to study support for the welfare state
Inequality and Calculating Solidarity
Meltzer-Richard Model
Macro condition:
Income Inequality
Self-interest
Calculating Solidarity
Inequality*selfinterest =
More calculating
solidarity
• Higher inequality – greater
distance between the mean and
median income
• Under majority rule the median
income holder is decisive
• Decisive actor will make a
decision to maximize his or her
utility – demand for redistribution
Inequality and Affective Solidarity
Macro condition:
Income Inequality
Self-interest
Moral considerations
Calculating Solidarity
Affective Solidarity
Inequality*selfinterest =
More calculating
solidarity
Inequality*moral
considerations =
?
Heterogeneity and Solidarity
• Heterogeneity – difference, diversity
• Heterogeneity (ethnic, religious, linguistic)
destructs social cohesion, trust and solidarity
E.g. Alesina et al., 2001; Putnam, 2000; Schubert & Tweed, 2004
• Homogeneity (similarity) breeds feelings of
fellowship and solidarity
Income inequality and
Affective Solidarity
• Income inequality – heterogeneity of economic
conditions
• Inequality creates mental and physical distance
• Inequality poisons social relationships (Titmuss, 1976)
• Different life-style
• Less daily interaction (schools, hospitals, neighborhoods),
but community spirit is fostered by face-to-face interaction
Hypothesis:
There is a negative relationship between income
inequality and affective solidarity
Macro condition:
Economic Inequality
Self-interest
Moral considerations
Calculating Solidarity
Affective Solidarity
Inequality*selfinterest =
More calculating
solidarity
Inequality*moral
considerations =
Less affective
solidarity
Support for the Welfare
State
Data and Method
• European Value Survey 1999
• 28 countries and 33 997 individuals in Europe
• Multilevel Analysis
Affective Solidarity
• Concerned about elderly
“To what extent do you feel concerned about the living conditions of elderly
people in your country?”
• Concerned about sick and disabled
“To what extent do you feel concerned about the living conditions sick and
disabled people in your country?”
• Willingness to help elderly
“Would you be prepared to actually do something to improve the
conditions of elderly people in your country?”
• Willingness to help sick and disabled
“Would you be prepared to actually do something to improve the conditions
of sick and disabled people in your country.”
Cronbach’s alpha: 82.5
Independent Variables
• Income inequality – GINI coefficient
• Poverty, GDP
• Neo-liberalism (welfare regime) (Coburn, 2000)
• Ethnic fractionalization (Alesina et al., 2003)
• Religion
• Individual level variables: gender, education, income,
retired (dummy)
Comparison of country means
Income Inequality and Affective Solidarity
Affective Solidarity, Multilevel Analysis
Support for Redistribution
• Should the state eliminate big inequalities in
income between citizens?
 No effect of income inequality
• Individuals should take more responsibility for
providing for themselves vs. The state should
take more responsibility to ensure that
everyone is provided for
 No effect of income inequality
Conclusion
• We find a negative relationship between income
inequality and affective solidarity
• Higher income inequality is related to lower levels of
concern for the living conditions of the needy and less
willingness to help to improve the living conditions of
the needy
• Relationship between income inequality and affective
solidarity is different from what has been proposed so
far about the relationship between inequality and
calculating solidarity
Remarks on Methodology
• Nature of the research question: macro*micro
• Time dimension (1999, 2008)
• Relation to previous research
• Measuring affective solidarity
• Causality