Max Haller

FEMALE EMPLOYMENT AND THE CHANGE OF GENDER ROLES: THE CONFLICTUAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARTICIPATION AND ATTITUDES IN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON:

This article examines female labour force participation and gender role attitudes from a comparative perspective, using recent survey data from eight countries. It starts with two general hypotheses. The technological-functional hypothesis states that the increase in womens labour force participation is a necessary concomitant of industrialisation, followed sooner or later by a corresponding adaptation of gender role attitudes toward individualistic-egalitarian values. The cultural-institutional hypothesis states that extra-familial work of women and gender role attitudes are both related to historically persistent, general societal values regarding personal individuality and freedom, family and social stratification. Empirical results did not confirm the hypothesis that the higher the employment rate of women in a particular country, the more the population will have egalitarian gender role attitudes. This is exemplified by the two polar cases of Hungary with the highest levels of employment, but most traditional attitudes, and Netherlands with relatively low levels of employment but very modern attitudes. It seems that the actual employment rates of women (as well as an economic motivation of female employment as a contribution to household income) are primarily determined by changing economic circumstances and policies as well as the actual economic situation of women and their family. Gender role attitudes, however, are shaped not only by structural changes due to industrialisation but also by socio-cultural factors, such as the religious heritages of different countries. In this regard, our second hypothesis also obtains empirical support.

Global activism and nationally driven recycling: The influence of world society and national contexts on public and private environmental behavior:

This article analyses the relationship between an individual’s environmental behavior and the social context. Drawing upon social movement and world societal literature, the authors start from the assumption that environmental behavior has both a global and national dimension. They use the 2000/1 ISSP environment survey to test their hypotheses and distinguish two behaviors: public and private. Public behavior includes actions such as taking part in a demonstration; private behavior consists of acts such as waste separation. At the contextual level, the authors consider linkages to world society, national political opportunity structures and resources. A hierarchical regression model including 23 countries and about 24,000 respondents shows that public behavior is quite similar across countries, whereas private behavior is influenced more strongly by local contexts. As for the contextual factors, political opportunity structures have the strongest impact on both behaviors followed by resources. World societal factors offer additional insights. Le présent article propose d’analyser l’influence du contexte social sur les pratiques environnementales des individus. A l’appui de la littérature à propos des mouvements sociaux et de la mondialisation, nous partons du principe que le comportement environnemental comporte une dimension nationale et une dimension globale. Nous mobilisons les résultats de l’enquête environnement de l’ISSP en 2000-2001 pour tester cette hypothèse, en opérant une distinction entre le comportement public (ex. participer à une manifestation de rue) et le comportement privé (ex. trier les déchets ménagers). Nous tenons compte des liens vers la société monde, les possibilités offertes par les systèmes politiques nationaux, et l’accès aux ressources pour contextualiser nos résultats. Le modèle de régression hiérarchique intégrant 23 pays et environ 24 000 enquêté.e.s montre que les comportements publics varient peu d’un pays à un autre, alors que les comportements privés sont davantage influencés par les contextes locaux. Du côté des facteurs contextuels, les deux types de comportement sont surtout influencés par les systèmes politiques nationaux, suivis de l’accès aux ressources. Des facteurs liés à la société monde apportent un éclairage supplémentaire. Este artículo desafía los supuestos convencionales que asocian la localización con la divergencia cultural. Tomando como punto de partida una investigación etnográfica sobre el sector de los seguros de vida en China, el artículo explora cómo la localización puede interactuar con la homogeneización y porqué puede no subvertir necesariamente la hegemonía cultural. Los datos ilustran cómo las aseguradoras transnacionales han diseminado nuevas ideas entre la población china, cómo han localizado sus prácticas de acuerdo con las condiciones locales, y hasta qué punto las nuevas aseguradoras locales emergentes imitan y se desvían de las prácticas organizacionales de las firmas transnacionales. A partir de las teorías institucionales, se analiza cómo una divergencia inicial entre las aseguradoras locales y transnacionales en las líneas de producto y en las estrategias de marketing ha desaparecido rápidamente y porqué se han producido las dinámicas homogeneizadoras. Se argumenta que la localización no es en modo alguno una garantía ni un indicador de divergencia y que la llamada “calle de doble dirección” de los flujos culturales entre lo local y lo global está lejos de ser realmente bidireccional.

Marriage, Women, and Social Stratification: A Theoretical Critique

In recent years, sociological research has been concerned increasingly with patterns of intergenerational and marital mobility of women, patterns of marital homogamy, and consequences of marital heterogamy. This research can make further substantial contributions only if it becomes integrated into a more adequate theoretical framework. In the first part of the paper, elements of such a framework are developed. Social stratification is conceived of as a process of differential association emerging as a complement to that of class formation in order to develop and preserve collective social identity within a world characterized by pervasive economic inequality. The outcome of this process is a long-term macrosocial reproduction of inequality when it penetrates two strategic forms of social relations, parent-child and husband-wife relationships. The second part of the paper applies this theoretical approach to the marital relationship by discussing traditional and alternative hypotheses about stratification mechanisms within the decision to marry, patterns of marital homogamy, and consequences of marital heterogamy. The new framework avoids some problematic assumptions of the dominant tradition of research and is able to provide a more adequate explanation for many empirical findings.

Egalitarismus und Antiegalitarismus zwischen gesellschaftlichen Interessen und kulturellen Leitbildern. Ergebnisse eines internationalen Vergleichs

Die Frage nach den Vorstellungen einer Bevolkerung uber soziale Gleichheit und Ungleichheit die Wahrnehmung des Ausmases an bestehenden Ungleichheiten, die Wertvorstellungen uber eine gerechte Verteilung, die Kritik bestehender Ungleichheiten im Lichte dieser Wertvorstellungen ist nicht nur von akademischem Interesse. Erstens gilt, das Wertorientierungen und Einstellungen dieser Art Verhalten determinieren. Dies gilt vor allem aus gesamtgesellschaftlich-politischer Sicht und uber lange Zeitraume. Dafur lassen sich viele Beispiele aus der jungeren politischen Geschichte nennen. So war und ist ein Wirtschaftsliberalismus a la Ronald Reagan oder Margaret Thatcher in Landern wie Deutschland, Osterreich oder Italien kaum vorstellbar vor allem deshalb, weil die Einstellungen der Bevolkerung zur Rolle des Staates hier vollig andere sind (z.B. Haller/Hollinger/Raubal 1990). Vom demokratischen amerikanischen Prasidentschaftskandidaten Bill Clinton wurde wohl zu Recht festgestellt, das er erst ab dem Moment eine reale Chance hatte, die Prasidentschaft zu gewinnen, als er seine grundlegenden Zielsetzungen weitgehend der amerikanisch-liberalistischen MainstreamIdeologie anpaste (vgl. u.a. Diggins 1992).

Christian Religion, Society and the State in the modern World

This paper is an attempt to explain why religious beliefs and practice have strongly declined in some parts of the world, in particular in Europe, while in other parts religion continues to play a central role in the public sphere and in private life. It is argued that the following factors determine the patterns of religiosity in contemporary Christian societies: substantive differences between religious doctrines and denominations with respect to theological teachings but also the use of rituals and symbols; the level of welfare state services; and the historical connections between church and state. These theses are empirically investigated in two ways: first, through a quantitative, multilevel analysis of the effects of individual and context variables on individual religiosity in 28 Christian countries around the world; and, second, through short case studies of four countries – Norway, Ireland, the United States and Chile – each exemplary of a specific type of state–church relations over time.

Europe and the Arab-Islamic World. A Sociological Perspective on the Socio-cultural Differences and Mutual (Mis)Perceptions between Two Neighbouring Cultural Areas 1

This paper investigates the mutual perceptions and misperceptions between Europe and the Arab-Islamic world. Based on a sociological theory of collective identity formation, a typology and set of hypotheses are developed in the first section concerning the relations between countries and cultures in the world; these are seen as being dependent on inequality in their level of socio-economic development, and on the similarity or difference of their culture and their political systems. In the second and third section, these principles are applied to an analysis of the self-concepts and the mutual perceptions between Europe and the Arab-Islamic world. Here, it is first investigated whether fundamental differences exist in basic value orientations between Europe on the one hand, and Islam and the Arabic world on the other, and in the value orientations of Christians and Muslims in two selected countries. In the third section, the mutual perceptions of these two culture areas are investigated. It is shown that--despite a lack of fundamental differences in value orientations--significant misperceptions exist, particularly of the Arab-Islamic culture and societies in Europe. They are related to colonial history, religious-cultural differences, and inequalities in levels of development. Further reasons for the misperceptions and perspectives for their correction after the terrorist attack in New York in 2001 are outlined in the final section.

Happiness as an Expression of Freedom and Self-Determination

In this paper, subjective well-being, as measured by survey questions on life satisfaction and happiness, is investigated from a sociological-comparative point of view. The central thesis is that happiness will be greater the more freedom a person has in her/his life decisions. It is hypothesized, therefore, that happiness will be higher in all those social contexts (micro and macro) which provide a person with greater freedom. Hence, happiness should be higher among the employed, among persons in higher positions and with higher incomes, and happiness should also be higher in free market and democratic, and in less stratified societies. A comparative empirical analysis (multilevel regression) is carried out, using survey data on 41 nations from the World Value Survey 1995–97. The finding that happiness is related significantly to the degree of individual freedom is fully confirmed. It also has been proven that people who live in circumstances providing more freedom of personal choice are happier. However, macro-social conditions are not directly relevant for personal freedom and happiness; this happens only through their perception and through their expected change (improvement or stagnation) in the future.

Class Structure in Europe: New Findings from East-West Comparisons of Social Structure and Mobility

Is there a typical European class structure? Have power patterns left any imprint in the European societies of today? Has the experience of socialist revolution in Eastern Europe created a distinctive social-structural pattern in that part of the continent? These are only a few of the questions taken up by the contributors to this collection of case studies and comparative research.

Sozialstruktur und Schichtungshierarchie im Wohlfahrtsstaat

Zusammenfassung Es wird argumentiert, daß hinter der Mehrzahl der neueren deutschsprachigen Beiträge zur Analyse der sozialen Ungleichheit in fortgeschrittenen Wohlfahrtsstaaten die These steht, daß ein vordem primär hierarchisch-vertikal strukturiertes System abgelöst worden ist durch ein System horizontal ausgeprägter Differenzierungen und Disparitäten. In diesem System lassen sich Oben und Unten, Privilegierung oder Benachteiligung nicht mehr ohne weiteres bestimmten Bevölkerungsgruppen zuordnen, ja im Grunde überhaupt nicht mehr eindeutig ausmachen. Der Beitrag versucht sodann die Gegenthese zu belegen, daß es in modernen Wohlfahrtsstaaten auch ebenso bedeutsame Tendenzen zur Aufrichtung neuer und Vertiefung älterer Formen hierarchisch-vertikaler Ungleichheiten gibt. Dies wird im einzelnen im Hinblick auf drei Bereiche näher belegt: (1) Expansion und Meritokratisierung des Bildungswesens; (2) Expansion des öffentlichen Sektors und Konsolidierung der Professionen; (3) Konzentration und Bürokratisierung der privat-kapitalisitschen Unternehmen. Der Beitrag schließt mit Überlegungen darüber, ob es auch Kräfte gegen diese Tendenzen gibt, welche ihrer weiteren ungehemmten Entfaltung in der Zukunft Grenzen setzen könnten.

A shift from public to private environmental behavior: Findings from Hadler and Haller (2011) revisited and extended

In 2011, we published the article ‘Global activism and nationally driven recycling: The influence of world society and national contexts on public and private environmental behavior’ in International Sociology. We considered the effects of national affluence, political opportunity structures, and global ties on these two environmental behaviors. This initial analysis showed that public behavior is quite similar across countries, while private behavior is more strongly influenced by the national context. Furthermore, a higher level of development, permissive political opportunities, and more ties to world society showed positive effects on both public and private behaviors. The 2011 analysis and conclusions were based on survey data from 23 countries collected by the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) in 2000/2001. This crosssectional design did not allow for any insights in changes over time. Meanwhile, ISSP has collected another wave of data on environmental behaviors and attitudes in 2010/2011. Together with the older ISSP data from 1993/1994, this research note utilizes a threewave design that allows more complex insights. The present time-comparative analysis extends and qualifies some of the initial observations. Private and public behaviors are becoming more similar across countries over time, and, therefore, homogenization processes are present in both dimensions. The underlying trends, however, are contrarian. Activism has decreased and private behavior