Project info
Work package
- Work
Sustainability threat
- Feedback Cycles
Challenge
- Reconciling stakeholder interests
Study info
Related studies according to this researcher
Towards convergence? Precarisation of employment across Europe
Related studies according to other researchers
Consensual Bargaining of Collective Labour Agreements in The Netherlands
Description of Study
Advanced democracies face converging challenges of rising political alienation, expanding precarious employment, and increasing educational stratification. This study examines the interplay between multidimensional employment precariousness, educational attainment, and their impact on political alienation. We analyze European Social Survey Round 5 data across diverse national contexts, using multilevel modeling to distinguish individual and country-level effects. We find that individuals who experience greater employment precariousness exhibit significantly higher levels of political alienation in their attitudes and behaviors. Educational level plays a crucial role, as its relationship to political alienation is partially mediated by employment precariousness. This highlights the interconnection between socioeconomic disadvantage and democratic participation. Cross-national analysis reveals significant country-level variation in how employment precariousness affects both attitudinal and behavioral political alienation. Educational effects on political alienation vary between countries only for attitudinal measures, suggesting institutional contexts shape cognitive rather than participatory responses. These findings establish employment precariousness as a significant predictor of political disengagement. They also show that educational stratification amplifies these effects within different institutional frameworks.
Study research question
What is the relationship between educational level, employment precariousness and political alienation? Does employment precariousness mediate the relationship between low education and political alienation?
Collection provenance
- External data
Collection methods
- Interview
- Questionaire
Personal data
Yes
External Source
Source description
Round 5 was used. (ESS round 5 - 2010. Family work and wellbeing, Justice)
File formats
Data types
- Structured
Languages
- English
Coverage start
Coverage end
31/08/2010
10/10/2013
Spatial coverage
Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom
Collection period start
01/01/2010
Collection period end
01/01/2013
Variables
Unit
Unit description
Sample size
Sampling method
Individuals
Employed individuals, with exclusion of those without an employment contract, self-employment, or family business, under 65 years old.
11395
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Hypothesis
Theory
Employment precariousness is positively related to political alienation (H1)
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Educational level is negatively related to political alienation (H2)
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Employment precariousness mediates the relationship between educational level and political alienation (H3)
—
Educational level moderates the relationship between employment precariousness and political alienation (H4)
—
The effect of employment precariousness (H5) and education (H6) on political alienation differs between countries.
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Variable type
Variable name
Variable description
Dependent variable
Political distrust
For political distrust, stablished subjective measures (Gidron & Hall, 2020) tapping into individuals’ trust in institutions (5 items) and their satisfaction with democracy (1 item) were used. For the trust items, participants were questioned about their personal levels of trust in various institutions, such as the country's parliament, legal system, police force, politicians, and political parties. An 11-point scale was used, ranging from ‘no trust at all’ to ‘complete trust’. For satisfaction with democracy, participants responded to an 11-point scale regarding their contentment with the functions of democracy in their country, ranging from ‘not at all satisfied’ to ‘completely satisfied’. The outcome variable ‘political distrust’ is computed as the inversed (i.e. distrust) average of all 6 items (α = .91).
Dependent variable
Voting abstention
A binary variable (1 = someone did not vote in the previous elections).
Independent variable
Employment precariousness
An index based on the existing EPRES (Padrosa et al., 2021) with the 4 dimensions Low wages (monthly & hourly), Temporariness (contract type & tenure), Disempowerment (meetings to discuss working conditions & opportunity to decide own working times), Unpredictable working times (having to work overtime at short notice).
Independent variable
High education
Dummy. Includes people with tertiary education or more.
Independent variable
Medium education
Dummy. Includes people with upper secondary education or advanced vocational education.
Discipline-specific operationalizations
Conflict of interest
None.
Data packages
Publications
Documents
Filename
Description
Date
Ethics
Ethical assessment
No
Ethical committee