Conference Agenda

Research over the past two decades has highlighted the pervasive impact of social inequalities on various aspects of people's lives, including their perceptions of society, morality, and justice. These inequalities influence attitudes towards political governance and leadership, as well as individuals' self-perceptions and lifestyle choices. In European societies, social inequalities play a central role in shaping people's lives and influence their motivation for justice, ideological beliefs, perceived legitimacy, well-being, trust, and support for equality. The European Social Survey (ESS) has provided valuable insights into these dimensions over several rounds of surveys, with a particular focus on the ESS9.
This thematic session aims to serve as a platform for researchers from different disciplines to use the data from ESS to foster academic discussions on social inequality, dimensions of social justice and related legitimacy processes. Possible topics include the relationships between actual and perceived inequality, different forms of inequality (such as nationality, social status, gender, race, or ethnicity) and their links to political behaviour and attitudes (e.g., ideologies, voting behaviour), trust and political legitimacy (e.g., populism, anti-elitism, demands for strong leadership, authoritarianism). We also look at individual and collective indicators of well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, self-esteem, interpersonal trust) and attitudes towards intergroup relations and social and cultural diversity (e.g., racism and ethnic discrimination). These dynamics of inequality can be analysed at both individual and collective levels. We invite studies that offer relevant insights into understanding the psychology of inequalities. These include studies that incorporate contextual variables such as countries or regions, studies of individual countries with a specific national focus, comparative studies of multiple countries, or mixed-methods studies that supplement ESS data with other types of information. Researchers are encouraged to consider the different levels of social justice and democratic traditions in different national contexts. We invite researchers working on these topics to submit proposals for this session, emphasising the use of ESS data to allow for comprehensive analysis and nuanced interpretations.

Over the past few decades, European societies have witnessed unprecedented increases in inequalities in wealth and income. Faced with more flexible labour markets, skill-based technological change, ongoing demographic change and migration, European welfare models have been unable to effectively address these rising inequalities. Accordingly, inequalities in wealth, income, education and other social resources and their consequences for social cohesion, redistribution, and democracy more generally have attracted attention, both in academic and public debate. While some argue that increasing inequalities are always harmful and serve as proof of growing injustices in society, others see a certain degree of inequality as a necessary component of a market economy. They argue that differences in individual talents, investments made in one’s own education, or even motivation must be rewarded. Whether inequalities are large or small, good or bad, just or unjust, always seems to depend on the normative perspective from which they are illuminated. Empirical justice research shows that people differ in their preference for certain distributions and distribution rules and thus ultimately also in their perception and evaluation of existing inequalities. This session proposes to attract and showcase some of the recent scholarship developed with the most important survey data about empirical justice produced up to date in terms of population coverage and cross-country comparability. The ESS Round 9 module - Justice and Fairness in Europe: Coping with Growing Inequalities and Heterogeneities - emphasized the aforementioned issues and allowed for the in-depth study of justice perceptions across Europe. The module, which was fielded in 2018/2019, allows the study of perceptions of justice for self and others regarding different outcomes such as income, wealth, education and job chances. Drawing on this rich pool of information, this session calls for contribution focusing on the normative views people hold on the principles that should guide the fair allocation of goods and burdens within a society, the fairness of incomes for self and for others, the fairness of life chances, and the fairness of related political procedures.

Over the past few decades, European societies have witnessed unprecedented increases in inequalities in wealth and income. Faced with more flexible labour markets, skill-based technological change, ongoing demographic change and migration, European welfare models have been unable to effectively address these rising inequalities. Accordingly, inequalities in wealth, income, education and other social resources and their consequences for social cohesion, redistribution, and democracy more generally have attracted attention, both in academic and public debate. While some argue that increasing inequalities are always harmful and serve as proof of growing injustices in society, others see a certain degree of inequality as a necessary component of a market economy. They argue that differences in individual talents, investments made in one’s own education, or even motivation must be rewarded. Whether inequalities are large or small, good or bad, just or unjust, always seems to depend on the normative perspective from which they are illuminated. Empirical justice research shows that people differ in their preference for certain distributions and distribution rules and thus ultimately also in their perception and evaluation of existing inequalities. This session proposes to attract and showcase some of the recent scholarship developed with the most important survey data about empirical justice produced up to date in terms of population coverage and cross-country comparability. The ESS Round 9 module - Justice and Fairness in Europe: Coping with Growing Inequalities and Heterogeneities - emphasized the aforementioned issues and allowed for the in-depth study of justice perceptions across Europe. The module, which was fielded in 2018/2019, allows the study of perceptions of justice for self and others regarding different outcomes such as income, wealth, education and job chances. Drawing on this rich pool of information, this session calls for contribution focusing on the normative views people hold on the principles that should guide the fair allocation of goods and burdens within a society, the fairness of incomes for self and for others, the fairness of life chances, and the fairness of related political procedures.

New methods and data sources confirm that income and wealth inequalities have continued to increase over the last three decades. The level of perceived inequality influences the demand for economic redistribution, but it is not the only factor at work in the mental map of attitudes towards redistribution. Beliefs about the source of inequality are key to understanding the desired level of redistribution. People who believe that inequality arises from differences in effort will tend to demand less redistribution, while those who believe that inequality is due to differences in circumstances beyond the control of individuals will tend to demand more redistribution. Similarly, earlier studies regularly found that political ideology was an important predictor of attitudes towards redistribution, but recent evidence suggests that both those who consider themselves on the left and those who consider themselves on the right advocate more redistribution. This call seeks to explain with ESS data and other international values surveys (WVS, EVS, ISSP, etc.) new trends in predictors of attitudes towards redistribution. Particular emphasis is placed on cross-national studies using ESS data and other surveys together with time-varying national statistics. These statistics are primarily variables about the level of different forms economic inequality and parameters of the tax schedule (such as tax incidence, progressivity, tax rate levels, etc. Two special ESS modules about fairness and social justice views of ESS fielded in 2008 and 2016 are also of key importance for this call as they allow including several beliefs on the analysis of attitudes towards redistribution across time and country.

New methods and data sources confirm that income and wealth inequalities have continued to increase over the last three decades. The level of perceived inequality influences the demand for economic redistribution, but it is not the only factor at work in the mental map of attitudes towards redistribution. Beliefs about the source of inequality are key to understanding the desired level of redistribution. People who believe that inequality arises from differences in effort will tend to demand less redistribution, while those who believe that inequality is due to differences in circumstances beyond the control of individuals will tend to demand more redistribution. Similarly, earlier studies regularly found that political ideology was an important predictor of attitudes towards redistribution, but recent evidence suggests that both those who consider themselves on the left and those who consider themselves on the right advocate more redistribution. This call seeks to explain with ESS data and other international values surveys (WVS, EVS, ISSP, etc.) new trends in predictors of attitudes towards redistribution. Particular emphasis is placed on cross-national studies using ESS data and other surveys together with time-varying national statistics. These statistics are primarily variables about the level of different forms economic inequality and parameters of the tax schedule (such as tax incidence, progressivity, tax rate levels, etc. Two special ESS modules about fairness and social justice views of ESS fielded in 2008 and 2016 are also of key importance for this call as they allow including several beliefs on the analysis of attitudes towards redistribution across time and country.

The analysis of social inequality is a perennial topic in sociological research. In particular, it is attracting renewed interest in European countries against the backdrop of the recent inflation crisis. We want to know what is the state of social inequality in European countries. In this session we will invite and discuss recent papers on educational inequality, social mobility and homogamy based on the European Social Survey. We are particularly interested in the following questions: How has educational expansion shaped educational inequalities? How do educational inequalities differ by institutional background (educational institutions or welfare systems)? What analyses are available on the use of unidimensional or multidimensional approaches to operationalize social origin with the European Social Survey? Do countries show similar or different patterns in absolute and relative mobility rates? How has homogamy changed across European countries?

Welfare state policies have proven to be an important buffer to the adverse effects of economic crisis, as we have observed during the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Understanding how citizens perceive and interact with the welfare state, especially in times of crisis, is therefore of paramount importance. Recent reviews (van Oorschot, Laenen, Roosma & Meuleman, 2022; Roosma & Laenen, 2023) demonstrate how the literature on welfare state attitudes has - in large part by virtue of the welfare attitudes modules of the European Social Survey - burgeoned over the past few decades. While this has vastly improved our understanding of Europeans’ welfare attitudes, important knowledge gaps remain. These include, most notably, (1) expanding the search for the determinants of welfare attitudes in new directions, for example by analyzing the impact of knowledge and lived experience, (2) exploring attitudes towards new types of welfare policy, like eco-social policies, Social Europe and universal basic income, (3) adopting a more longitudinal perspective on how welfare attitudes evolve over time in different contexts in both the short and the long term, and (4) investigating the consequences of welfare attitudes, for example on actual welfare policies and discourses. This session invites papers that contribute to improving our understanding of welfare attitudes and their causes and consequences, using data from the European Social Survey and/or the CROss-National Online Survey (CRONOS) Panel.