Social cohesion across Europe. Does time allocation matter?

Abstract

The concept of social cohesion has received much attention in recent academic research as well as in policy documents. The aim of this paper is to point out the shortcomings of current indicators for social cohesion and the advantages of including time allocation data in the evaluation and measurement of social cohesion. Such data should include, for example, time spent on household work and family care or time spent on voluntary and civic activities. The paper is organised as follows: first, the Eurostat and OECD social cohesion indicators are discussed in relation to concepts of social cohesion. In section two, some aspects of social cohesion are associated with time allocated to various activities and it is argued that time use data, in some cases, provide a more accurate measure of social cohesion. In section three, empirical results are presented for European countries using indicators that illustrate social cohesion, and time use data are combined with current social cohesion indicators. Finally, conclusions are presented.