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This paper analyses emerging forms in which life and work are interwoven, based on 20 ethnographic studies conducted in enterprises in Spain. Whereas after the Industrial Revolution work processes tended to be autonomous from the living environments of production agents, in recent decades a trend in the opposite direction has been observed in some companies. This re-articulation takes place at several levels: a) through the blurring of the boundaries that separate work and everyday life, b) through the reintegration of affective dimensions into work processes, c) in promoting reciprocity and sociability in the economic sphere and d) in the production of meaningful experiences at work. Are we witnessing an emancipating balance between life and work? Or, on the contrary, is private life being colonized by the sphere of production? In this paper we seek to explore a third form of analysis, that of reflexive modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses media coverage of corruption scandals in Spain between 1996 and 2009. The fi rst aim is to determine to what extent the two most-read newspapers in Spain, El País and El Mundo, cover corruption scandals following different political orientations. Results illustrate highly partisan media coverage: there are important differences in how these newspapers cover corruption cases, depending on the political party involved (PP or PSOE). A second goal is to analyse whether the media influence citizens' perception of corruption as a public problem. Results show that, when the number of news stories on political corruption increases, the percentage of citizens that consider corruption as one of the most important problems in Spain also increases. Media impact on public opinion is high and occurs in the short- to mid-term. Finally, the paper analyses to what extent the perception of corruption is influenced by changes in the perception of the economic situation, by showing that this variable has low explanatory power compared to media coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work analyses three platforms that have emerged in different Spanish provinces (Soria, Teruel and Zamora) to report the neglect suffered from State institutions, the Regional Governments and its representatives when it comes to plan infrastructure and development policies. Firstly, the paper analyses the way these platforms emerge and the nature of these actors, who are compared and contrasted to the Nimby phenomenon. Further, the paper studies and compares -- through the tools used to analyse collective action -- their discourse, organisational structure and how they channel their demands. Finally, the paper offers a reflexion on the nature and impact of this new type of actor , present in the political arenas of some regions and it compares them to Nimby networks, social movements and pressure groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the results of a research project on relative social mobility patterns in Spain during the second half of the 20th century. The data were collected by the Spanish National Statistics Institute for the Survey of Incomes and Living Conditions (2005). This empirical material has not been used previously and it provides new data about the last decade of the 20th century. The social fluidity models created by Erikson and Goldthorpe in The Constant Flux (1992) have been applied. In short, this paper confirms that the rates of the social fluidity remain invariant during this period and that the patterns of core social fluidity for European countries closely match the Spanish case. Nevertheless, this mobility regime has certain particularities resulting from the characteristics of Spain's social and economic structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six years after its sinking, images of the Prestige remain etched in our memory: an overturned, leaking oil tanker losing part of its load and being towed out to high sea over the course of six days, during which time the tanker split in two and sank to a depth of 3,500 meters. The fuel reached the coast in several waves, affecting Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country, and to a lesser extent, France and Portugal. Fishermen, shellfish gatherers, and thousands of volunteers took it upon themselves to prevent the worst consequences of the slick. Demonstrators gathered en masse in Santiago de Compostela… Never before in Spain had a disaster of this nature had such media, social, and political impact. What implications did this have for policies designed to prevent and combat environmental disasters? Did these public policies change as a result of this event? In this paper, frame analysis applied to public policy analysis is used to answer these questions. In other words, the paper analyzes the prevailing discourse regarding these public policies, how the problem is defined, what is identified as its cause, how the problem is situated geographically, to whom the problem and liability for it is attributed, what the proposed solutions are, what or who the targets of the policies are, the places at which these policies are aimed, and who should act to solve the problem. This analysis enables us both to conclude that the Prestige disaster did not bring about an essential change in Spanish public policies designed to prevent and combat marine oil pollution, and to draw lessons for improving the effectiveness of the public policies analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women participation in Spanish sociological journals is analysed during the period 2001-2005, by means of bibliometrics and Social Network Analysis. There is a predominance of men (75,08% of authors) compare to women (24,92%), despite the fact that there is a majority of women ending University studies. This inequality starts to be perceived from the beginning of their research and professional development and it intensifies with time. As a result, only a reduced number of women reach the highest positions in the academic rankings, which correspond to authors with the highest productivity. Related to that, it has been observed a phenomenon of bottleneck, according to it as the number of women writers reduces, the productivity threshold increases. There must be studied in depth the barriers that make difficult the development of a professional course among women and to carry out a diachronic monitoring of the professional occupation and their contribution to papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Created with the dual purpose of monitoring social change and bringing improvements into the creation and design of instruments for measuring that reality, the European Social Survey (ESS) has now completed its third round. This methodology paper expresses thoughts on the usefulness of analysing the accumulated data from the first two rounds in the process for ongoing improvement of the survey. And so, in the case of Spain, the experience accumulated in the earlier rounds has been used to 1) validate the questionnaire, 2) finely tune the sampling design to the characteristics of the country, and 3) substantially improve the quality of the data obtained. The paper shows how the coordinated effort of the Spanish ESS team and the polling agency has resulted in a remarkable increase in the degree of compliance with the survey targets, which is a fact that guarantees the representativeness of the sample finally obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the world of contemporary design, the individual genius of the creator is less important than his skill for harnessing the trends that are generated in the street. This paper analyzes the way in which designers create and one of the most important protagonists of creativity in the street: young urban tribes. In order to understand the link between both kinds of creator, it is not just cultural climates and atmospheres that are considered to be important. Beyond the fizzy metaphor, there is a suggestion that there is a pneuma (or spirit) that tribes help to create and which designers must know how to find their way through. The most important issues examined in this paper are how Aragonese designers navigate their way through this pneuma and how it is generated by the urban tribes of Zaragoza. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses and compares two kinds of logic that explain electoral behaviour: the performance vote and the ideological vote. To be exact, this paper puts one of the main hypotheses of both theories to the test: that the rules guiding citizens' voting decisions are the same, regardless of their level of interest, knowledge and information about political matters. In order to do this, empirical material taken from post-electoral surveys in four democracies —Spain, Portugal, Hungary and Poland— is analysed. The data belongs to the second module of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES 2005) programme which contains information on citizens' electoral conduct and knowledge of politics. The results indicate that while the influence of political knowledge on the logic of the performance vote is clear and conclusive, it is much less conclusive in the case of the ideological vote. All this suggests that democratic control of governments through sanctioning their performance requires citizens to have minimum levels of knowledge and information about politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the contradiction at the heart of Italian and Spanish immigration policies between the calls for integration on the one hand, and the marginalization associated with temporary and contingent immigration status on the other. I argue that this tension is structural and reflects an underlying contradiction in the political economy of these post-Fordist societies. In the second half of this paper, I examine this same tension in U.S. immigration policy, and explore the ways the current proposals for reform would bring U.S. immigration policy closer to that of Spain and Italy. I note that while the tension between immigrant marginalization and integration has always characterized U.S. policy, the contradiction has intensified as immigrants are an increasingly visible component of the U.S. workforce, complicating attempts at meaningful reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an ethnographic interpretation of how in a changing context of family care different Spanish home telecare services provide older people with social links to prevent their isolation, granting them "connected autonomy": the promotion of their autonomy and independent living through connectedness. To do so, services need to craft a network of "contacts". Different versions of the term iguration are employed to describe the practical materializations of the forms of relatedness put in place by such services: what roles become available and explicitly supported; what other igurations of relatedness (e.g., kinship, friendship, neighbourliness) they come across; what happens when these different igurations of relatedness meet. In doing this, our aim is to allow space to relect ethically on the practical relational promises and challenges of these forms of technologized care of older people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the outflows of the foreign-born population resident in Spain; specifically, it examines the variations in the probability of emigrating and the intensity of self-selection during the different phases of the economic cycle. In order to do this, survival analysis models were calculated using data from the Spanish Labour Force Survey between 2005 and 2010. The results show, on the one hand, an increase in the probability of emigrating from the start of the recession; and on the other hand, that the probability of emigrating is higher among immigrants with worse employment outcomes and a poorer educational background, as suggested by Neo-classical Economics. However, the effect of unemployment and of the deficit in human capital has been decreasing since 2008. That is, during the recession, negative self-selection is reduced compared to the period of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Probit/logit techniques are applied to the data from Barometer No. 2,829 published by the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas to examine three problems related with public sector decentralisation. The paper concludes, first, that citizens' perception of efficiency gains from decentralisation have a positive effect on their support for decentralised government. Second, that citizens are more likely to perceive the efficiency gains from decentralisation if they correctly ascribe responsibility for education and health services to regions. And third, that citizens who most accurately identify regional responsibility for the provision of those services tend to be better educated, older, engaged in paid work or public employment, concerned about regional politics and resident in one region with higher initial level of devolved powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the crisis in Spain, the youth face a situation of multi-dimensional disadvantage. In this paper we analyse the perspectives of different stakeholders on this situation, as well as how these perspectives inform the design and implementation of public policies. We carried out a qualitative study with an innovative theoretical approach, the capability approach. We reviewed secondary sources and undertook 21 in-depth interviews with 21 key stakeholders. Evidences show that current policies affecting the youth have a narrow focus on job creation, overlooking the multiple disadvantages that today's young face. This situation is aggravated by the lack of participation in definition and implementation of policies, and by partisan interests and short-term strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Spain cohabitation the prevalence of cohabiting couples is no longer marginal. Not only the incidence but also the nature of cohabiting couples is diverse: in Spain cohabitation is considered a temporal alternative that generally ends with the legalization of the union (marriage). The main purpose of this paper is to examine the incidence, duration and development of cohabitation using a life course comparative approach, identifying also the profiles of women who split up against those who decide to marry. Results show the prevalence of the transition from cohabitation to marriage in Spain, establishing this type of union as a prelude and not as a definitive alternative to marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes two possible determinants of disability, birth cohort and socioeconomic status, among Spanish elderly aged 65-89 living independently. We use microdata from the Spanish Health Interview Survey, particularly the self-reported ability to perform daily activities, to construct a continuous measure of disability. Multivariate linear regression models are applied separately for men and women controlling for the following variables: age, birth cohort, educational attainment and self-reported height. Results indicate stability in disability levels across successive generations as well as the existence of a socioeconomic dimension of disability especially among women and within ages 70-79. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the main conclusions of a research project on family care provided to elderly and dependent people in Galicia. Galicia has a high aging rate and a significant socio-demographic contrast between rural and urban areas, making it an interesting environment to examine how family care tasks are combined. This study examines the kind of intrafamily negotiations that lead women, usually unmarried daughters (but not other family members) to carry out caregiving work. Furthermore, it presents the type of working conditions related to family care, as well as their impact on the living conditions and health of the caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper updates a line of research on qualitative methodology from recent years, examining certain recent (and nascent) initiatives for the archiving of qualitative sociological research in Spain. The Spanish case is revisited and placed in a European context to focus attention on some of the pioneering archiving practices of different types (according to grade of visibility, institutionalization, etc.) currently being established in Spain. The case of the CIS qualitative studies archive is dealt with in depth; a strategic sample of its archived material serves to analyse the evolution that has taken place in transcription practices on the part of (among others) emblematic researchers. The results are compared to those obtained by other researchers with materials from the British archive, Qualidata. The concepts of quality and the backstage are related to the concept of the qualitative archive in order to lay out the fundamental methodological debate, as well as proposals to promote and improve a process now in progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present a research on intergenerational occupational mobility in Spain. We use the Survey of Living Conditions (INE, 2011) that allows us to obtain occupational information about parents and sons. Traditionally the comparison between occupation origin (parents) and destination (children) has been performed using male population. Then, our question is: How are the results about social mobility in Spain when the female population is included in Origin and Destination? As a result we show that the inclusion of women in models of social mobility change the usual conclusion about the constant fluidity over time. There is greater fluidity, not invariant over time, that reveals the new role that women have been acquiring in our society in recent decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social trust and political trust are, amongst others, key social capital factors. This paper examines the accuracy of their measurement and comparability across different time periods. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) is performed and different levels of measurement invariance (configural, metric and scalar) are tested. Data used are from European Social Survey for the years 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008, in relation to Spanish citizens. Factor means for social and political trust are compared across time in Spain. Political and social trust show stability across time, except in 2004 with a higher level of political trust and 2006 with a higher level of social trust in Spain. Comparison with traditional composite scores shows the inaccuracy of such measurement for data comparison across time. Finally, consequences of using inaccurate measurements, and methodological recommendations concerning model fit structural equation models are delineated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the political responsibilities of women in local governments of 155 town councils across Spain. The main objective is to examine the situation of female politicians within municipal governments, focusing on the division of power roles (vertical segregation) and the different areas of government (horizontal segregation). We suggest that the gender roles/stereotypes approach may explain the situation of women in formal politics and the inequalities that we have found in these local governments. This approach is combined with the power theory. Thus, a key factor in explaining this situation may also be the dominant role of men in traditional power structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents research findings that focus on analyzing the conditions that enable and/or complicate the development of the critical intercultural approach in Pre-schools and Primary schools. To this end, three case studies were conducted in schools in the Spanish Autonomous Region of Andalusia. The main data production techniques used were: participatory observation, interviews and documentary analysis. The results are organized around three dimensions of analysis: the concept of inequality and/or diversity as a driving force for change in schools and the opening-up of the school setting as a challenge/ reproduction of cultural homogeneity and hegemony. The findings show how the dynamics and interactions that exist within these schools provide opportunities but also create limitations when it comes to shaping new intercultural realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and explains the recent trends in life expectancy at birth in Spain from an interdisciplinary perspective. It is based on two methods: segmented linear regression, and decomposition of life expectancy. The study consists of three sections. First, a description is provided of the demographic factors that explain the increase in the life expectancy at birth of the Spanish population from 1910 to 2009, which is in excess of 40 years. Second, the effect that changes in mortality have had on life expectancy at birth during 1980-2009 is analysed by cause of death of the population aged 65 and above. And third, the social and epidemiological causes underlying that increase are described. It is concluded that the increase of life expectancy at birth in Spain is mainly due to the reduction of mortality at advanced ages and a decrease in cardiovascular mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates public and private (household) spending per student on education in early childhood, primary and secondary education in Spain, in public educational institutions and in publicly-funded private educational institutions. We use 2007 data from the Household Spending on Education Survey and the Statistics on Public Spending on Education. Public expenditure on education per student in publicly-funded private educational institutions was 49.9% that spent on public educational institutions. The cost assumed by families in public institutions was 38.7% that spent on publicly-funded private educational institutions. The total expenditure per student on publicly-funded private educational institutions was 66.9% that spent on public educational institutions. Enrollment in publicly-funded private educational institutions implies a reduction of public expenditure on education and the transfer of part of those educational expenses to families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spanish religious indicators have experienced one of the most drastic declines in Europe. The low levels of church attendance and religious denomination contributed to reject the perception of religiosity as a relevant explanatory factor of electoral behavior . However, leaders continued introducing debated related to secular education, divorce and abortion not only during the eighties, but also more recently from 2004 to 2011. The facts encourage us to reconsider the strength of the religious vote. Is the political elite able to mobilize religious voting through the inclusion of such issues in the electoral debate? In this paper I demonstrate that religiosity has been and still is a key element to understand Spanish electoral behavior, especially in those elections in which the political elite has focused the debate on issues related to moral issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to develop a scale for measuring the commitment of Spanish universities to the employability of their graduates by looking at four different dimensions of the term: basic, business protocol, matching and feedback. These dimensions have been measured against initiatives that are run beyond the scope of official academic training. Based on this scale and applying the analysis of several clusters, we identify three profiles for university centers according to their commitment to the employability of their graduates. We gave a questionnaire to 230 higher education institutions in Spain. The results demonstrated that Spanish universities have a long way to go to reach sufficient commitment in the four areas proposed. Only one third of the centers analyzed met the criteria. Last, we propose some potential measures for improvement such as requiring a minimum level of a foreign language in order to complete a degree, the use of interactive learning methodologies and collaboration with employers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of school performance (primary effects) and the structure of costs and benefits that individuals of different social class face (secondary effects) on the transition from compulsory to non-compulsory education in Spain. We find that both predictors of educational paths seem to operate through an interactive effect, which contributes to reproducing educational inequalities. This interaction suggests that school performance is not interpreted in the same way by individuals from different social classes. In concrete, the resources and social capital of upper class families provide compensation effects leading to a greater probability of students from upper classes with poor grades reaching post-compulsory secondary education and higher education in comparison to lower class students with the equivalent grades. Therefore, inequality by social class of origin is greatest among students with the lowest grades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an approach to the aesthetic canon of Spanish pop-rock, which is understood as being the musicians, bands and works which have had the most influence on this musical genre in Spain. Using Bourdieu's sociology of art and its application to popular music studies, surveys have been analysed that were carried out by both Spanish music critics and musicians. The hypothesis posed is whether an autochthonous aesthetic canon exists, and whether this is determined by an Anglo-American influence. From lists or rankings published whether in books or in general or specialist magazines, these data were combined to obtain a meta-ranking, which was tested by using certain statistical tests. From this, some characteristics particular to the Spanish aesthetic canon have been obtained, as well as some which are shared with the English-speaking canon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the predictions of the election results for the Spanish Parliament published in the main Spanish newspapers. To gauge their degree of accuracy, the distance between the predictions and the actual results was defined and later assessed by comparing it with that of the so-called 'perfect poll'. This 'perfect poll' was generated by a simulation using the proportions of votes actually obtained by each party. Other issues related to the published polls are also analysed, such as the relationship between sample size and estimation quality, and between the error made (by excess or defect) for a party and the ideological affinity between that party and the newspaper publishing the survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the employment transitions of unemployed individuals who have worked before. To do so, a longitudinal data set from the Spanish Labour Force Survey (Encuesta de Población Activa, EPA) was used. The analyses were conducted for two different economic periods: expansive (2005-2007) and recessive (2008-2010). The results indicate that Latin Americans and Eastern Europeans had a higher probability of obtaining employment in Spain during the period of economic growth. This was the case after controlling for sociodemographic variables, as well as factors related to the characteristics of the last job before becoming unemployed. This advantage, however, disappears during the recession period. Moreover, the effect of some factors that influence the likelihood of being employed again, such as human capital, change depending on the phase of the economic cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the equalization hypothesis at the vote level. A good number of studies have examined whether the Internet is levelling the playing field in electoral competition by offering fringe parties opportunities to increase their visibility. To test the influence of use of the Internet in vote choice, we analyze the behaviour of ERC voters. Using survey data, we test whether online exposure to political information affects vote choice among these voters. We find that online exposure to political information increases the probability of voting for Solidaritat Catalana relatively to voting again for ERC. The analysis provides empirical evidence to support the idea that the Internet works as a differentiated media environment in which political messages compete in more equal terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is focused on the nationalization of political parties in Spain understood as the homogeneity of parties' electoral support across constituencies in a national election. The first part of the paper describes the evolution of nationalization from 1977 to the present and shows how the Spanish party system is increasingly nationalized despite the differences across parties. The second part seeks to explain party nationalization determinants. The analysis indicates that the votes received at national level increases party nationalization. The age of the party enhances national parties' nationalization while in subnational parties this variable has a negative effect, pointing to a trade-off between the two groups. Finally, the ideological distance in the left-right axis reduces national parties' homogeneity across districts while founding elections have no effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social studies on disability have increased in number and importance in Spain and other countries over the last few years. Nevertheless, the majority of the available sources and studies do not adequately represent this heterogeneous group, which currently makes up about 9 per cent of the Spanish population. The implementation of social measures requires representative sources and studies containing relevant information. The aim of this paper is to identify the main difficulties involved in designing and developing social research methods concerning persons with disabilities, and offer proposals and recommendations in order to advance towards a more inclusive social research using the concepts of accessibility and design for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is threefold: 1) to compare the impact of the Normalisation of 2005 with the new Settlement Programme established in 2006; 2) to analyse the trajectories of applicants from both programmes after their regularisation; 3) to examine the regularisation of applicants who were unable to qualify in their first attempt via the Normalisation or, subsequently, through the Settlement Programme. Two approaches have been implemented: one cross-sectional, to analyse the volume and intensity of entry, and the other longitudinal, to monitor the trajectories of applicants from both programmes. Specific data from 2005 to 2010 from the Government Representation Office in the Province of Barcelona have been used. Whilst the results shed some optimism on both programmes, they also demonstrate the difficulty of regularisation in times of economic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study is to identify the vegan activist profile in Spain, with vegans being the most committed group within the animal liberation movement. Through online questionnaires, we analyzed socio-demographic characteristics, ideological and emotional aspects of the participants, their process of conversion, as well as their preferences regarding activism strategies. The findings are very similar to previous studies about animal rights activists, especially those conducted in the United States. The paper concludes with recommendations aimed at animal organizations, companies and governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to understand the behavior of Spain's main media within a specific electoral context: the 2008 General Election. To this end, we analyzed the coverage of the major Spanish newspapers (El País, El Mundo and Abc) in order to determine whether their agenda setting and framing had political motives, in addition to the merely informative intention. Spanish media had at least two options within the context of the elections: to offer their readers a neutral coverage or, on the contrary, to taint it with obvious partisanship. Our findings demonstrate the predominance of the latter option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to show to what extent it is possible to speak of the existence of permanently precarious or discontinuous trajectories in Spain, beyond the well-known age effect. The available variables for the 2001-2006 period coming from the Fundació Jaume Bofill's Inequalities Panel have been exploited by means of a cluster analysis coupled with a logistic regression. The results of this analysis show that gender and age are among the most important variables when determining precarious trajectories. These results also seem to point towards the existence of a generation gap in labour trajectories, although the limited length of the available panel data does not make it possible to state that this gap can be extended to any social profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widowhood has an emotional, economic and relational impact. This paper analyzes the transformations which take place in the personal support networks of widowed persons. In our analysis we have used different regression models (Poisson) in which we examine the effects of personal, contextual and attitudinal variables on support networks. The data come from the Social Relations and Social Support module of the International Social Survey Program 2001. Our conclusions show that widowed persons have smaller support networks than those in relationships, although there are differences based on sex. The greatest loss in support occurs in the secondary family network. Geographic mobility increases the family network but decreases that of friends. Familist attitudes and lower social trust contribute to maintaining these personal networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the process of implementing «gender equality» in North-South development cooperation. The hypotheses argue that the background of these processes involves a homogenizing desire whereby the goals of the West should be the goals of the world. The theoretical discussion is based on modern feminist critical theories. The first part reviews the main theoretical reflections related to post-modern feminism, and the second section provides empirical information on the relationship between Colombian and Aragonese NGDOs. The main conclusions state that, on the one hand, post-modern feminist theories represent an advance in the understanding of current patterns of development cooperation. On the other hand, in practice, «gender equality» on the development cooperation agenda often reproduces a type of patriarchal authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we introduce a system of composite indicators designed to analyze the digital gender divide. This tool, called Gender & ICT Indicators System (GICTIS), is an advance in the measurement and analysis of the difference between men and women in the Information Society. Its application allows us to a) make inter-gender comparisons, determined by their degree of e-equity; b) carry out intra-gender analysis according to the degree of e-inclusion of each sex; and c) contextualize the results obtained with the corresponding thirty-one European countries. Furthermore, this transnational analytical perspective is specified in the ranking of countries that are used to establish five classification categories according to the level of ICT use, combined with the degree of existing gender equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes economic voting in decentralized contexts. The existence of several arenas of political competition allows for the appearance of vertical electoral contamination processes, implying that voters do not evaluate the performance of national and regional governments independently. Using the case of Spain in the period 1982-2008, it is demonstrated that this electoral contamination spreads from the national arena to the regional one, and not the other way round. However, electoral contamination tends to diminish as the process of decentralization takes place over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]