Search

This research paper seeks to confirm the hypothesis according to which political consumerism can be considered a form of political participation that cosmopolitanism is helping to develop. After analysing the theoretical implications of this hypothesis, the study presents an operationalization of cosmopolitanism which shows its greater presence among those individuals who have bought or boycotted products for ethical, political or environmental reasons. This is followed by a further verification of the association between cosmopolitanism and political consumerism, controlling for the effect of the main socio-demographic variables on the latter. The study confirms the hypothesis that political consumption can be regarded as a form of political participation related to cosmopolitanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses determinants of the aspirations and expectations among immigrant offspring on the basis of a representative sample of second generation adolescents interviewed at schools in the metropolitan area of Madrid. Seven hypotheses are formulated in relation to status attainment in general and aspirations and expectations in particular. We present breakdowns of educational and occupational aspirations and expectations by gender, parental education and school. The analysis is completed with structural equation models which offer an integrated theoretical perspective on the causal structure of ambition in the Spanish context. We examine the consequences of our conclusions for theory and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes collaboration strategies for the provision of services at local level in the municipalities of Spain, United States and Norway. It focuses on the importance of these strategies and how they are carried out in the cases mentioned, as well as the role that various factors play in such strategies. For this purpose, attention is paid to elements of the social, economic and political dynamics of the municipality, but also to the institutional design elements which shape the position that local authorities occupy in the intergovernmental system in each case. This requires an analytical approach at two different levels, which we call meso and micro respectively. The meso level concerns institutional design elements that operate in the municipality as a determining factor in the collaboration models, whilst the micro level deals with those elements located in local political society that determine the local authorities' opportunities for carrying out their strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the transformation that water policy in Spain has undergone in recent decades. The erosion of a strongly united hydraulic policy community has given way to a widespread and plural network in which modern hydrological policy is under discussion. In this network, a new discourse about sustainability (the «New Water Culture») brings new State and non-governmental actors together in an innovative form of «issue politics». We document this phenomenon by using research strategies drawn from analyses of public issues on the Internet. More precisely, we trace the «New Water Culture» network on the Web, analyse its structure and consider the political meaning of its history. On the basis of the study carried out, we claim that a hydrological policy commonwealth has emerged on the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically reviews the conventional wisdom on the positive relationship between turnout and the electoral results of the PSOE in general elections in Spain. We highlight the existence of three causal mechanisms that give rise to different predictions about this correlation and therefore undermine the existing parsimonious thesis. Some of our arguments are empirically tested with aggregate district-level data corresponding to the ten general elections held to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we use the method of counterfactual simulation to estimate the number of strategic votes transferred from the United Left (IU) to the Socialist Party (PSOE) in the last three Spanish general elections. The strategic voters we refer to are those who, in spite of IU being their first political preference, voted for the PSOE in order to attain representation benefits. The counterfactual simulation procedure is used to examine how the predicted individual probability of voting for a party changes when the strategic incentives at constituency level are removed. Our results lend support to the hypothesis that IU's electoral and parliamentary collapse was due in no small measure to the strategic behavior of its followers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Birth intervals have rarely been considered a phenomenon worthy of study in developed countries, but rather a mere consequence of individuals' decisions about total family size and age at first birth. However, women may be using birth spacing as a strategy to make employment and motherhood more compatible. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the analysis of the influence that women's attachment to work and received help with housework can have on the length of second birth intervals. For this purpose, I have taken information from a sample of 871 Spanish women aged between 35 and 49. The data have been obtained from the Fertility and Family Survey for Spain, conducted in 1995. The results obtained from some multivariate linear regression models indicate that the strong attachment to work negatively affects the length of second birth intervals, especially among highly educated women. However, the positive effect of help with housework on the interval can counteract the influence of the abovementioned characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a method proposed by W. Brass, this paper uses 1940 Spanish census data on retrospective fertility (based on questions addressed to married women about numbers of children born alive and surviving children at the time of the census) to estimate the survival levels of women's descendants at different ages and, therefore, child mortality up to the age of 15. The results show that the Spanish Civil War worsened child survival in practically all Spanish provinces, especially those of Andalusia and Levante, whereas the least affected provinces were those of Catalonia and the Northern Meseta, in spite of the fact that these two regions had had opposite experiences of child mortality before the war, with low levels in the former and high ones in the latter. This would seem to indicate that, although a region's level of development should be inversely related to its population's vulnerability to unfavourable situations, the previous demographic situation does not seem to significantly influence child mortality during the war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on a research project carried out by the «Centre de Recerca del Treball i la Vida Quotidiana» (QUIT) of the Universitad Autònoma de Barcelona on prison work in Catalonia. Our starting hypotheses were as follows: working and learning a trade contribute to reintegration into the labour market and thereby to the future social integration of inmates; and the more resources the penitentiary system in question provides, the better it will fulfill the duty that society entrusts to it. For the basis of our study we used a representative survey of inmates who work in the nine prisons of Catalonia. In addition, we conducted in-depth interviews with experts and people in charge of the penitentiary system, and visited various prison workshops to observe the inmates at work and conduct interviews with them. The result of the study has allowed us to confirm that prison work acquires several functions. Firstly, it provides inmates with earnings that enable them to meet personal or family needs. Working in prison allows them to make better use of their time and helps to avoid conflictive situations. It also provides working habits and improves social relationships. In spite of the fact that only a few of the jobs enable inmates to learn a trade, they appreciate the work they do inasmuch as it helps them to “normalize” everyday life in prison, while at the same time offering them prospects for future reintegration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The manipulation of the Spanish electoral system carried out by the political elites that led the political transition has been proved by several studies. This manipulation moves through the existence of a large number of low-magnitude districts and its interaction with malapportionment, the Hondt formula and, above all, the variance effect of district magnitudes. In this paper I will discuss another bias that has not yet been studied by researchers, and which also paved the way for UCD victories: the turnout bias. I will show how the manipulation of the electoral system led UCD to win systematically in the districts where there was low turnout and how its opponents won in districts with high turnout. Therefore the "price" of the seats for UCD was lower. This bias has remained and it favours those parties that have support in the districts with low turnout which are, at the same time, more overrepresented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between individual behaviour and social perception regarding Spaniards' behaviour on environmental issues in the theoretical context of the cognitive biases of false consensus and false uniqueness. A survey carried out by the CIS (2005, study no. 2590) on 2,490 citizens from a representative sample of the Spanish population was used. The results showed that individuals with a moderate frequency of pro-environmental behaviours tended to project their own behaviour on all Spaniards. However, individuals with a more extreme kind of conduct, because of high frequency of pro-environmental behaviours, tended to attribute to others a different conduct from their own. These individuals considered themselves to be different from the rest of the population. It was also found how the differences in social perception of the behaviour of Spaniards on environmental matters are associated with different perceptions of environmental deterioration and concern for the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spaniards are getting married later and in smaller proportions. Gary Becker's economic theory of the family and Oppenheimer's theory of marriage timing try to explain these trends. The aim of this paper, focused on men's nuptiality patterns, is to determine whether the hypotheses derived from such theories apply to the Spanish case. To this end, the Spanish Labour Force Survey is used, and the method of artificial cohorts and logistic regression are applied. The findings show that unemployment, fixed-term contracts, the cost of access to the housing market and women's absolute rate of employment are negatively related to the likelihood of getting married. From these results, a discussion on how Spanish society has handled the socio-economic changes that have taken place in the last three decades with respect to the process of family formation is established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the dimensions of the support given by Spaniards to the European Union (EU). In order to do this, the main theoretical approaches that exist tor explaining European public opinion, which are based on affective, utilitarian and national political factors, have been taken into account. The three theoretical viewpoints are tested, independently and jointly, through various regression analyses in order to find out which are the elements that most influence the Europeanism of Spaniards. Our research shows that the perception of the economic and social benefits that community integration carries with it continues to be the main dimension for explaining the favourable attitudes shown by Spaniards towards the EU. However, affective aspects, such as confidence in European institutions and identification with Europe, are also highly relevant. The political factors are of secondary importance, but it can be seen that satisfaction with the performance of national democracy is related to the integration of citizens into the European political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several analysts have pointed out the emergence of a global consciousness that is closely related to the process of globalization of social life. It has been considered that this global consciousness, which is supported on an expansion of the geographical space of responsibility from which citizens feel they are being questioned, is encouraged by the revolution of information and communication technologies (ICT), the contents broadcast by the mass media and the action of international NGOs. From the context of these and starting from the data contained in a CIS survey (E-2419), this paper seeks to contrast empirically the hypothesis of the modifying action of the «cultural reference frameworks» of the international NGOs and its role in the proliferation of feelings of global solidarity, as well as the distribution of such sentiments in Spanish society. In order to do this, an operationalization of the empirical dimensions of solidarity is proposed first, and secondly, the influence that membership of various types of associations and organizations has on the dimensions of solidarity is analysed. Lastly, an examination is made of the degree to which the latter are associated with different positions of the social structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the way in which voting decision combines factors regarding government performance and the representative nature of the rulers. We have selected four Spanish regions with different degrees of nationalism and different parties at autonomous regional and central government levels. Voters make decisions in a two-dimensional space (ideology and nationalism). We calculate the relative importance of each dimension and show that ideology affects all voters equally, whereas the nationalist dimension only affects nationalists. Using conditional logit estimation techniques, we analyse a 1992 survey of carried out by the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, which shows us that (i) there is a coat-tail voting effect, so that the party in power is rewarded or punished at autonomous regional level, (ii) nationalist voters are more indulgent than non nationalist voters when they have a negative opinion of the regional government performance, and (iii) the more exclusionist the nationalism, the stronger this effect will be. We consider that these effects are due to the fact that nationalists vote on the basis of representation rather than government performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing measures to control and regulate migration flows, irregular migration has grown in the last few years in Spain, Malaysia and the United States. This increase in irregular immigration has mainly been explained in relation to socio-economic factors. However, while these factors explain the presence of migration flows towards these countries, they do not succeed in explaining why an important part of these flows takes place on a non-regular basis. This can only be considered by taking into account the State and its immigration policies. Starting out from this statement, this research paper analyses to what extent, how and why the immigration policies of Spain, Malaysia and the United States produce «illegals«. This means not only analysing how and why immigration policies contribute to the increase in the number of irregular immigrants, but also how and why, by denying their rights and often their existence, they create the figure of the «illegal immigrant». As this research note demonstrates for the Malaysian case, irregular immigration is not despite immigration policies but because of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this analysis we make an approach to the impact and importance of a transnational perspective when studying current international migrations. More specifically, the objective of this paper is to reflect on the impact of the monetary and «social» remittances of Peruvian and Ecuadorian immigrants living in Spain, considering their households as transnational. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sharp decline in fertility recorded in Spain in the last few decades is the outcome of a number of factors, one of the most relevant being the average age at first maternity, which has climbed by four years since the mid-1970s. This leads to increasingly unfavourable ratios between higher order and overall fertility. In the present paper, a regression model in which 99% of the variance could be accounted for was used to establish the relationship between variables and simulate several scenarios. The chief conclusion is that with the age at first birth patterns prevailing today, replacement level fertility cannot be achieved. Indeed, age at first child would have drop even to reach values of over 1.5: naturally, the higher the desired fertility rate, the lower the age required, since the age at which mothers have their first child determines the combination of birth orders, which in turn has an impact on the resulting fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research note has three objectives: First, to discover what the attitude of citizens towards towards the subsidiarity principle is; next, to examine whether or not there is a consistent relationship between, on the one hand, the attitude towards the subsidiarity principle and, on the other hand, the opinions and preferences on the question of the distribution of power, functions and resources among the different levels of government; and thirdly, to identify the typical citizen characteristics that show consistent attitudes and opinions. The research focuses on the province of Barcelona and the Community of Madrid. The last section of the paper contains some thoughts about possible avenues to further research on these questions and a short discussion on the implications of our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the processes of transition experienced by young men and women as a privileged field for identifying elements of permanence and change in relation to schooling processes, professional insertion models and the emergence of new varieties of family emancipation. Taking a biographical approach to transition as the point of departure, some results of previous studies made by the GRET are presented and compared with the results of the Catalonia 2002 Survey on Young People. This allows us a glimpse at dominant and emerging professional insertion models in relation to models that are recessive at the present time. One of the major changes detected in relation to insertion models refers to the increase in qualification levels among young women and the fact that they are working in more qualified jobs, in comparison with their male counterparts. However, these changes survive with the old forms of employment inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to measure the relationship between universities and research. The position of every Spanish university is mapped in relative scales of research capabilities, research efforts and research excellence. The method used is based on the analysis of aggregate outcomes, at the research organisation level, of the competition for research funding coming from national government. The period used for construction of the data corresponds to the R+D projects funded by public financing between 1996 and 2001, through National R&D Programmes and the Program for the General Promotion of Knowledge (POC). Special analysis will be devoted to research activities in the sphere of Social and Economic Sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the shortcomings of the literature on strategic voting is the absence of empirical evidence in proportional representation electoral systems (PR systems). In this paper the existence of strategic voting in the 1996 regional elections in Andalusia is demonstrated using a pooled cross- section regression model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the psychological effects of the electoral system, paying attention to the influence that the size or magnitude of the electoral district has on the strategic use of the vote in the Spanish Congreso de los Diputados elections. In order to measure the incidence of the strategic vote on the behaviour of Spanish voters between 1982 and 2000, the various approaches proposed for studying this phenomenon are applied. The results make it possible to confirm that the institutional variable forming the electoral system - the size or dimension of the district, in other words the difference between large and small districts - has an influence on the behaviour of voters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]