Renzo Carriero

Perceived Fairness and Satisfaction with the Division of Housework Among Dual-Earner Couples in Italy

A well-documented paradox in family literature is that most married women and men consider the division of household labor to be fair, although its distribution is quite uneven. In this article I report results from a survey on 404 dual-earner couples with young children living in Torino, Italy. A small proportion of wives and husbands (13.6% and 5.7%, respectively) reported both unfairness and dissatisfaction with the division of housework. The absolute majority (55%) of both wives and husbands perceived fairness and satisfaction, even if most of the chores (about two-thirds) fell on wives’ shoulders. To explain these judgments, elements of Thompsons distributive justice theoretical framework were operationalized and tested. A critical reassessment of these elements is provided, based on empirical findings.

More inequality, fewer class differences: The paradox of attitudes to redistribution across European countries

This article investigates how income inequality affects class differences in attitudes to redistribution. Drawing on the fourth wave (2008–09) of the European Values Study, it provides a multilevel analysis covering 44 nations. The main finding is that class differences in attitudes to redistribution tend to fade out in more unequal countries, not because higher classes converge toward more pro-redistributive positions, but because working class people become less egalitarian. This result proved to be robust with respect to several checks and to the inclusion of different control variables, both economic and non-economic. The interpretation of these puzzling findings points to the role of various societal and cultural factors, such as social mobility, political discourse and individualistic values.

Childhood: A homogeneous generational group?

This paper reports several findings of a survey on children aged 5–131 years focusing on their daily lives. The aim was to test the assumption, claimed in New Childhood Sociology, that children are a generational group so strictly dependent on adult society that they have little autonomy in their daily behaviour. Moreover, although they are a social group that is different from that of adults, they are so diversified internally that it seems more appropriate to speak of diversified childhoods (James, Jenks & Prout, 1998; James & Prout, 1990; Qvortrup, 1991; Hengst & Zeiher, 2004). Our first objective in this paper was therefore to improve the rather scarce knowledge of childrens everyday lives in post-industrial Western societies and then to analyse to what extent these were connected with those of adults. Finally, we wished to detect the degree and patterns of differences in the childrens lifestyles.

Religion, welfare regimes and attitudes toward government responsibility for citizens' welfare. A European comparative analysis

The article aims to investigate the relationship between individual religiosity and attitudes towards government responsibility for citizens’ welfare. The rationale for such a relationship stems from the idea that religion and government spending can be intended as substitute mechanisms that may insure individuals against negative life events. We theorized the existence of an additional and opposite mechanism working in certain contexts: complementarity of responsibility. The local solutions provided by Church organizations and state interventions are not always perceived to be in opposition, but they can reinforce each other. In testing the relationship between religiosity and attitudes toward 2 public support, we hypothesized a moderating impact of contextual features: the prevalent religious denomination in a country and the type of welfare state regime. Both may have indeed influence on citizens’ opinions about the role of government responsibility because they contribute to shape individual preferences. To address these issues in a multilevel framework, we analyze the integrated European Value Study database for 31 European countries. Our results confirm that the different Christian doctrines, the various types of welfare state regimes, as well as the combinations of the two, shape differently the relationship between religiosity and attitudes toward government responsibility.

Housework Division and Perceived Fairness: The Importance of Comparison Referents

A long-standing theoretical tradition underlines the importance of comparison referents for fairness evaluation, i.e., people, experiences and expectations that individuals choose to compare with their own situation. However, few studies on perceived fairness of housework division have measured and tested comparison referents, partly because of the lack of suitable data. Moreover, findings were sometimes mixed because small convenience samples were used. Previous literature also neglected the distortive effects of self-serving bias in the choice of referents. This study, conducted in an Italian context, seeks to overcome these limitations by using a probabilistic sample and two different designs: a survey data analysis and an experimental-vignette technique which avoids the distortions of self-serving bias. The surveys findings reveal that the effects of comparison referents are strong and in line with expectations, though limited to the domestic behavior of male referents. Moreover, unfavorable comparisons have a stronger effect on perceived fairness than favorable ones. The vignette analysis indicates that comparison referents affect perceived housework fairness even if the effect of self-serving bias is controlled for.

Gli atteggiamenti verso le disuguaglianze di reddito in Italia: il ruolo di interesse personale e orientamento politico

Introduzione. - Quadro teorico e rassegna della lerteratura. - Dati, indicatori e tecniche di analisi. - Risultati. - Discussione e conclusioni. - Appendice.