Stödet för EU från medborgarna har i olika opinionsundersökningar visat sig vara lågt, samtidigt som integreringen i EU blir djupare och det diskuteras därför huruvida organisationen är ett legitimt politiskt system. Medborgarnas stöd för EU anses vara en förutsättning för att kunna fortsätta fördjupningen av samarbetet inom organisationen. Syftet är att utifrån medborgarnas uppfattningar undersöka i vilken utsträckning EU är ett legitimt politiskt system. Undersökningen genomförs som en fallstudie och undersöker medborgarnas uppfattningar om EU utifrån ett analytiskt ramverk där tre kriterier har identifierats; ledarskap, resultat och procedurer. Det empiriska materialet som analyseras består av opinionsundersökningar genomförda av Eurobarometer. Resultatet från undersökningen visar att ledarskapet och procedurerna inte anses vara legitima enligt medborgarna utifrån Weilers definition av social legitimitet. Det är endast resultaten som produceras som erhåller tillräckligt med stöd för att legitimera EU som ett politiskt system.

<p><p><p> </p><p><p>Euro barometer surveys show quite an astonishing change in Turkish opinion towards European Union. In 2004, 73 % of the population considered EU as a good thing. In 2008, only 49 % were of the same opinion. At the same time, skepticism towards European integration is explained differently in earlier research. Some scholars claim that partisanship may explain attitudes of citizens better than “cost and benefit” approaches. The first aim of this study is to distinguish whether young Turkish citizens show a similar level of skepticism to the EU compared to the rest of the population. The second aim is to show how earlier research-identified factors can explain the EU attitudes of younger Turkish citizens. To map this out, a questionnaire based on Euro barometer survey questions has been used. The Turkish “youths” have been selected based on three conditions: age, profession and gender. To identify these individuals, the author has used what is sometimes referred to as the “snowball” technique. This basically means that the first identified individuals further contact people who fit the sample criterion. The result indicates that level of education; partisanship and strong nationalism all have an impact on EU membership attitudes. The result also showed that people who visited worship and other religious meetings on a regular basis, had a tendency to be more skeptical to a Turkish EU membership.</p></p></p></p>

Increasing shares of European women are making large investments in their human capital. Whether and to what extent these investments are in conflict with reproductive behaviour are issues that have repercussions for fertility levels. Using two Eurobarometer survey data (2006 and 2011) on individuals clustered in the 27 EU countries, I investigate the relationship between women's education and lifetime fertility intentions. Results suggest that a positive association between women's level of education and lifetime fertility intentions exists at both the individual and country levels, as well as in a micro-macro integrated framework. The main explanation for these findings - which remains to be proven by future research - is that, in institutional contexts allowing highly educated women to have large families, women of reproductive ages are more prone to make investments in both human capital and family size, because these choices are not seen as incompatible alternatives. (author's abstract)

This paper explores cross-country variations in charitable giving and investigates the association of welfare state policies with private philanthropy. Hypotheses are drawn from crowding-out theory and considerations about the influence of a country's mixed economy of welfare. We add to the on-going discussion concerning the crowding-out hypothesis with empirical evidence by looking at specific charitable subsectors people donate to across countries. Using Eurobarometer survey data that include 23 countries, we find no evidence for a crowding-out effect, but rather a crosswise crowding-in effect of private donations. Moreover, giving behaviour differs between non-profit regimes.

This paper analyses if European citizens are willing to show solidarity with debt-ridden EU member states during the recent crisis. Based on a theoretical concept comprehending four di-mensions of solidarity - generalised willingness to support, existence of social cleavages, rea-sons of supporting others, acceptance of conditions a crisis country has to meet to receive as-sistance - we derived hypotheses stating that the existence of a European wide solidarity is rather unlikely. We analysed data from two Eurobarometer surveys 2010 and 2011 and a unique survey conducted in Germany and Portugal in 2012. Descriptive and multilevel analyses indi-cated that in 2010 and 2011, a narrow majority of all EU citizens supported fiscal assistance for crisis countries, and socio-economic and cultural cleavages in attitudes regarding financial as-sistance for crisis countries were rather low. Findings from the two country comparison showed that the willingness to show solidarity was predominantly guided by moral reasoning instead of the respondent’s self-interest. However, German and Portuguese respondents disagree on austerity measures, with the exception of social spending cuts. Taken all together, we come to the conclusion that recent years have brought a new legitimacy to the use of EU bailout measures which are now a given European practice.

Euro barometer surveys show quite an astonishing change in Turkish opinion towards European Union. In 2004, 73 % of the population considered EU as a good thing. In 2008, only 49 % were of the same opinion. At the same time, skepticism towards European integration is explained differently in earlier research. Some scholars claim that partisanship may explain attitudes of citizens better than “cost and benefit” approaches. The first aim of this study is to distinguish whether young Turkish citizens show a similar level of skepticism to the EU compared to the rest of the population. The second aim is to show how earlier research-identified factors can explain the EU attitudes of younger Turkish citizens. To map this out, a questionnaire based on Euro barometer survey questions has been used. The Turkish “youths” have been selected based on three conditions: age, profession and gender. To identify these individuals, the author has used what is sometimes referred to as the “snowball” technique. This basically means that the first identified individuals further contact people who fit the sample criterion. The result indicates that level of education; partisanship and strong nationalism all have an impact on EU membership attitudes. The result also showed that people who visited worship and other religious meetings on a regular basis, had a tendency to be more skeptical to a Turkish EU membership.

This paper analyses if European citizens are willing to show solidarity with debt-ridden EU member states during the recent crisis. Based on a theoretical concept comprehending four di-mensions of solidarity - generalised willingness to support, existence of social cleavages, rea-sons of supporting others, acceptance of conditions a crisis country has to meet to receive as-sistance - we derived hypotheses stating that the existence of a European wide solidarity is rather unlikely. We analysed data from two Eurobarometer surveys 2010 and 2011 and a unique survey conducted in Germany and Portugal in 2012. Descriptive and multilevel analyses indi-cated that in 2010 and 2011, a narrow majority of all EU citizens supported fiscal assistance for crisis countries, and socio-economic and cultural cleavages in attitudes regarding financial as-sistance for crisis countries were rather low. Findings from the two country comparison showed that the willingness to show solidarity was predominantly guided by moral reasoning instead of the respondent’s self-interest. However, German and Portuguese respondents disagree on austerity measures, with the exception of social spending cuts. Taken all together, we come to the conclusion that recent years have brought a new legitimacy to the use of EU bailout measures which are now a given European practice.

Most of the studies today only focus on the aftermath of someone losing their home, but who are the people that are living with the daily risk of losing their home? The aim with my research paper was to examine the people having issues with paying their rent or mortgage on time with help of Pierre Bourdieu's social and economical capital theory. In the beginning of my writing progress I already had some knowledge about the problem, because of my internship. The data used was taken from Eurobarometer and the data was already coded and put into the Statistic Package for Social Science (SPSS) to create cross tabs and look closer at Pearson's chi-square and Sperman to see if there existed any correlations between the different variables. After analyzing the charts a pattern started to emerge of it all being a question of prioritization. Nobody wants to lose their home and usually it is the last thing to not get prioritized. The connection with economic capital could we see in that respondents did rather not pay for other utility bills, food and daily consumer gods then being in risk of losing their home. In relation to the social capital we could see that people that had a higher rate of not being able to pay their rent or mortgage live with a higher rate of poor people in their area.

No description available.

Background: Risk perception has been studied concerning the use of marijuana and it impacts the intention to use that specific substance. Aim: The aim was to study the association between the perceived risk of cannabis use and cannabis use among Swedish youth after controlling for gender, age, and education. The aim was also to study whether the association between the perceived risk of cannabis use and cannabis use was different according to gender. Method: The thesis project was based on data from the Flash Eurobarometer 330 - Youth Attitudes on Drugs. Results: When age and education were controlled for, both among Swedish youth and among male participants, the perceived risk had an association with cannabis use - higher risk perception entailed a lower use. Discussion: The association between the perceived risk of cannabis use and cannabis use appears to be due to the impact of risk perception on behaviour. Conclusion: By preserving the risk perception that Swedish youth have of cannabis, it may be possible to protect them from the potential harm that cannabis use cause.