Abstract
The aim of this paper is to map and contrast recent developments in attitudes towards different types of solidarity in Austria and Hungary. The context of the paper is that the economic and the so-called ‘refugee’ crisis and its social and political consequences have fundamentally affected European attitudes towards solidarity. Such times of crisis are often seen as providing ample opportunities for the populist radical right to prosper. Nevertheless, the above developments do not necessarily mean a weakening of solidarity as its forms may change and its meanings become contested.
 Based on a comparison of Austrian and Hungarian results of the ESS round 8 (2016) the article – with the help of k-means cluster and multinomial logistic regression analyses – examines what solidarity positions can be observed and contrasted and how they may be linked step-by-step to 1) objective socio-demographic variables, 2) subjective perceptions at the micro-level (like social trust, well-being, and feelings of insecurity), 3) subjective perceptions at the macro-level (like institutional and political trust, attachment to country and the EU), moreover 4) to different values and attitudes like xenophobia, homophobia, conformism or statism on the one hand, and, 5) to political orientations and voting intentions on the other.
Highlights
The countries of Europe in the past decade have been hit by a succession of crises that potentially altered the political and value landscapes of the affected societies
Values that correspond to lower levels of conditionality and selectivity point to inclusive, while those that correspond to higher levels of conditionality and selectivity point to exclusive forms of solidarity
According to all variables and aggregate dimensions, we found that respondents living in Austria demonstrated more inclusivity concerning solidarity
Summary
The countries of Europe in the past decade have been hit by a succession of crises that potentially altered the political and value landscapes of the affected societies. Our aim is to provide a nuanced understanding of solidarity that encompasses both its inclusive and exclusive forms and its micro-, meso-, and macro dimensions This distinction allows for an operationalized concept of solidarity that forms the basis of our cluster analysis. The creation of these clusters allows for the examination of a number of propositions regarding the relationship between solidarity and socio-demographic variables, personal values, attitudes and political behaviour. Such an analysis of the relationship between solidarity clusters in the two countries allows us to address the similarities and differences between the two countries and to investigate the explanations that may potentially underlie them. How far is the distribution of the various clusters attributable to far-right political radicalism?
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