ALLBUS Research Articles

Social Identification and Redistribution in Heterogeneous Federations: Evidence From Germany and Belgium

Recent evidence of increasing income heterogeneity within developed countries has reignited debates concerning the redistribution of income and wealth. In this article, we contribute to this debate by assessing the role of individuals’ jurisdictional identification for their preferences toward intrafederation redistributive financial flows. Incorporating insights from social identity theory in a model of redistributive taxation, we show that federal, rather than local, identification can lead individuals to shift their redistribution preferences independent of their narrowly defined personal economic interests. Moreover, contrary to conventional wisdom, welfare state support will sometimes be decreasing in national identification. We empirically assess these predictions using individual-level data from the 2008 German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) and a 2013-2014 survey among Belgian local politicians. Our findings provide strong support for the model’s core predictions in both settings.

Long-Term Outcomes, Education, and Occupational Level in Cochlear Implant Recipients Who Were Implanted in Childhood.

To document the long-term outcomes of auditory performance, educational status, vocational training, and occupational situation in users of cochlear implants (CIs) who were implanted in childhood. This retrospective cross-sectional study of 933 recipients of CIs examined auditory performance, education and vocational training, and occupational outcomes. All participants received their first CI during their childhood between 1986 and 2000. Speech comprehension results were categorized using the categories of auditory performance (CAP) arranged in order of increasing difficulty ranging from 0 to 8. 174 of the 933 pediatric recipients of CIs completed a self-assessment questionnaire regarding their education and occupational outcomes. To measure and compare school education, qualifications were converted into International Standard Classification of Education levels (ISCED-97). Occupations were converted into International Standard Classification of Occupation-88 skill levels. Data from the German General Social Survey (Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften/ALLBUS) for 2012 were used as a basis for comparing some of the collected data with the general population in Germany. The results showed that 86.8% of the 174 participants who completed the survey used their devices more than 11 hr per day. Only 2% of the surveyed individuals were nonusers. Median CAP was 4.00 (0 to 8). Age at implantation was significantly correlated with CAP level (r = -0.472; p < 0.001). The mean ISCED level of the 174 surveyed recipients was 2.24 (SD = 0.59; range: 1 to 3). A significant difference (p = 0.001) between users' ISCED levels and those of respondents was found. Participants' ISCED levels and maternal educational levels were significantly correlated (r = 0.271; p = 0.008). The International Standard Classification of Occupation-88 skill levels were as follows: 5% achieved skill level 1; 77% skill level 2; 16% skill level 3; and 5% skill level 4. The average skill level achieved was 2.24 (range 1 to 4; SD = 0.57) which was significantly poorer (t(127) = 4.886; p = 0.001) than the mean skill level of the respondents (mean = 2.54; SD = 0.85). Data collection up to 17.75 (SD = 3.08; range 13 to 28) years post implant demonstrated that the majority of participants who underwent implantation at an early age achieved discrimination of speech sounds without lipreading (CAP category 4.00). Educational, vocational, and occupational level achieved by this cohort were significantly poorer compared with the German and worldwide population average. Children implanted today who are younger at implantation, and with whom more advanced up-to-date CIs are used, are expected to exhibit better auditory performance and have enhanced educational and occupational opportunities. Compared with the circumstances immediately after World War II in the 20th century, children with hearing impairment who use these implants have improved prospects in this regard.

Beyond interviewer effects in the standardized measurement of ego-centric networks

The effects which interviewers exert on the collection of ego-centric networks have recently come into the focus of methodological considerations. Studies consistently show that the size of networks varies depending on the interviewer. We would like to expand on this research strand by pointing to different aspects which have so far gone unremarked in the discussion. First, size is mainly analysed as a network measure which is influenced during data collection, while other common measures such as network density or composition have not received sufficient consideration. Second, large-scale surveys using face-to-face interviews usually allocate interviewers to a single sampling point. Differences between sampling points (locality effects) are attributed to interviewer effects. Hence, we disentangle the effects of the locality and interviewer. Third, the discussion on interviewer effects often follows an “actor-oriented” consideration of how data collection situations are structured by interviewers. Expanding this approach from a relational perspective, we consider the relationship between the interviewers and respondents and whether this relationship influences the collection of network data. To test our hypotheses about the influence of interviewers, the locality and the interviewer-respondent relationship on different network measures, we use data from the 2010 German General Social Survey (n=2827 respondents, n=220 interviewers). The multilevel analyses show that the relationship between the interviewer and the respondent is not very relevant. Furthermore, the analyses show that interviewers have an influence on the network size but not on measures of their composition. However, evidence on the prevalence of locality or interviewer effects is mixed. Finally, homophilous interviewer-respondent relationships have very little effect on network characteristics. We find evidence of training and fatigue effects on network size. However, much of the variation in network size caused by the interviewer still remains unexplained. We draw conclusions on how to organize interview situations in surveys.

Measuring Attitudes Toward Distributive Justice: The Basic Social Justice Orientations Scale

Previous research on social inequalities relied primarily on objective indicators. According to recent studies, however, subjective indicators that reflect a person’s perceptions and evaluations of inequalities are also relevant. Such evaluations depend on an individual’s normative orientation, so respective attitudes toward distributive justice need to be accounted for appropriately. This article introduces a short scale for measuring such order-related justice attitudes. The introduced Basic Social Justice Orientations (BSJO) scale comprises current insights into the empirical justice research and measures individuals’ attitudes toward the following four basic distributive principles: equality, need, equity, and entitlement. The BSJO scale has four dimensions that measure support for these four justice principles on the basis of eight items. We assess the quality of the scale using data from three general population surveys conducted in Germany: the first wave of the panel “Legitimation of Inequality Over the Life Span” (LINOS-1), the Innovation Sample of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP-IS 2012), and the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS 2014). The scale was found to be a valid instrument that can be used to measure order-related justice attitudes toward distributive justice. The BSJO scale is a short and therefore time-efficient instrument that can be implemented in general population surveys.

Three Methods for Occupation Coding Based on Statistical Learning

Abstract Occupation coding, an important task in official statistics, refers to coding a respondent’s text answer into one of many hundreds of occupation codes. To date, occupation coding is still at least partially conducted manually, at great expense. We propose three methods for automatic coding: combining separate models for the detailed occupation codes and for aggregate occupation codes, a hybrid method that combines a duplicate-based approach with a statistical learning algorithm, and a modified nearest neighbor approach. Using data from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS), we show that the proposed methods improve on both the coding accuracy of the underlying statistical learning algorithm and the coding accuracy of duplicates where duplicates exist. Further, we find defining duplicates based on ngram variables (a concept from text mining) is preferable to one based on exact string matches.

Improving the Accuracy of Automated Occupation Coding at Any Production Rate

Occupation coding, an important task in official statistics, refers to coding a respondent's text answer into one of many hundreds of occupation codes. To date, occupation coding is still at least partially conducted manually at great expense. We propose two new methods for automatic coding: a hybrid method that combines a rule-based approach based on duplicates with a statistical learning algorithm, and a modified nearest neighbor approach. Using data from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS), we show that both methods improve on both the coding accuracy of the underlying statistical learning algorithm and the coding accuracy of duplicates where duplicates exist. We also find that statistical learning is improved by combining separate models for the detailed occupation codes and for aggregate occupation codes. Further, we and defing duplicates based on n-gram variables (a concept from text mining) is preferable to one based on exact string matches.

Beauty, body size and wages: Evidence from a unique data set

We analyze how attractiveness rated at the start of the interview in the German General Social Survey is related to weight, height, and body mass index (BMI), separately by gender and accounting for interviewers’ characteristics or fixed effects. We show that height, weight, and BMI all strongly contribute to male and female attractiveness when attractiveness is rated by opposite-sex interviewers, and that anthropometric characteristics are irrelevant to male interviewers when assessing male attractiveness. We also estimate whether, controlling for beauty, body size measures are related to hourly wages. We find that anthropometric attributes play a significant role in wage regressions in addition to attractiveness, showing that body size cannot be dismissed as a simple component of beauty. Our findings are robust to controlling for health status and accounting for selection into working.

Organisationsdefizite der deutschen Gewerkschaften

Eine Auswertung der Allgemeinen Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften (ALLBUS) ergibt, dass der Organisationsgrad der Gewerkschaften unter den Arbeitnehmern im Jahr 2014 nur noch bei knapp 18% lag. Damit wurde im wiedervereinigten Deutschland ein neuer Tiefstand erreicht. Rekrutierungsdefizite bestehen vor allem bei Frauen, bei Jüngeren und in Ostdeutschland. Außerdem sind Angestellte in den Gewerkschaften ebenso unterrepräsentiert wie Hochqualifizierte.

The Answer Is Blowing in the Wind

Abstract. This study examined the effects of weather on personality self-ratings. Single-assessment data were derived from the German General Social Survey conducted in 2008. For a subset of the participants (N = 478), official weather station data for the day a personality inventory was completed could be determined. Among these respondents, 140 (29%) completed the personality inventory on an unambiguously sunny day, 59 (12%) completed the measure on an unambiguously rainy day, and 279 (59%) completed the questionnaire on a day characterized by mixed weather conditions. Results revealed that self-ratings for some personality domains differed depending on the weather conditions on the day the inventory was completed. When compared with corresponding self-ratings collected under mixed weather conditions, ratings for the Big Five dimension of Openness to Experience were significantly lower on rainy days and ratings for Conscientiousness were significantly lower on sunny days. These results are suggestive of some limitations on the assumed situational independence of trait ratings.

Don’t Tax Me? Determinants of Individual Attitudes Toward Progressive Taxation

AbstractThis contribution empirically analyzes the individual determinants of tax rate preferences. For that purpose, we use representative survey data from the German General Social Survey, which offers information on attitudes toward progressive, proportional and regressive taxation. On the basis of theoretical considerations, we explore the factors which, beyond an individual’s financial interest, should drive preferences for progressive taxation. Our empirical results confirm that the narrow redistributive self-interest does not offer the sole explanation of the heterogeneity in individual attitudes. Rather, we show that the choice of the favored tax rate is also driven by fairness considerations and beliefs on the role of effort for economic success.

Die Linke: Still an Eastern Cultural Icon?

As the self-proclaimed champion of East German regional identity, the former Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) was often viewed as the central political force of a lingering cultural divide in united Germany. Desperate to increase its paltry electoral support among western voters, the PDS merged in 2007 with a band of western leftists to form the Left Party, casting doubt on whether the new party would remain symbolic of regional division. Using survey data from the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS), this article compares the changing bases of electoral support between eastern and western supporters of the Left Party as evidence for greater change in the political culture of the two regional constituencies. Though notable points of divergence remain, results centre on several areas of convergence that together highlight a common profile for Left Party supporters defined above all by strong leftist ideological views.

Who is Willing to Answer Open-ended Questions on the Meaning of Left and Right?

The left-right dimension plays an important role in a wide range of political science studies, and analyses are sometimes based on responses to open-ended survey questions about the meaning of left and right. Due to a considerable non-response to these questions on the 2008 German General Social Survey, the value of the data needs to be evaluated, and response analysis is recommended before Germany’s ideological beliefs are analysed. This paper investigates whether or not respondents’ personality traits, cognitive abilities and socialisation, motivation, and left-right self-placement affect response behaviour to our open-ended questions. We found several explanatory variables: a left-right self-placement, its ideological direction, an Eastern German socialisation background, a high level of education and a strong political interest. These findings indicate that, in addition to methodological issues, substantial variables matter in response behaviour in technical terms, and ideological analysts should consider if their findings can be generalised for the entire German population.

Looks and Labor: Do Attractive People Work More?

AbstractUsing the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) 2008, I investigate how looks affect an individual's labor supply decision. My results are, by and large, in line with predictions derived from the neoclassical model of labor supply. Applying regular probit, bivariate probit, Tobit and Heckman selection regression models, I find that good looks go hand in hand with higher employment probabilities and more hours of market work. Furthermore, physical attractiveness is positively associated with spousal income and spousal employment. Hence, beauty appears to affect labor supply decisions both directly and through the marriage market.

The Effectiveness of Mailed Invitations for Web Surveys and the Representativeness of Mixed-Mode versus Internet-only Samples

E-mail is a common invitation mode for Web surveys. However, collecting e-mail addresses in another mode may raise privacy concerns among respondents. In our previous study, fewer than half the respondents provided an e-mail address. In this paper we report on an experiment to test the efficacy of asking for e-mail addresses. Respondents to the 2012 German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) who reported having Internet access at home were randomized to two groups, with one group not being asked for their e-mail address, while the other being asked. Using a mailed invitation to a follow-up Web survey, we explore the effect of this request on the subsequent response rate. We also followed up all cases (including those who reported not having Internet access at home) with a mail survey to explore the effect of adding mail in a sequential mixed-mode design. We find that asking for e-mail address does not appear to have negative effects on subsequent response. We also find that a mixed-mode design substantially increases response rates and brings the follow-up sample more in line with the ALLBUS in terms of selected demographic and attitudinal variables.

Anti-Islam or Anti-religion? Understanding Objection against Islamic Education

Opposition against the accommodation of Islam in Western societies is often attributed to a prejudice against Muslims. This overlooks the possibility that opposition against Islam could also be caused by a more general aversion towards religion and a desire for a stricter separation between the state and religion in general. Based on the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) of 2012, the current study investigated the non-Muslim majority's attitude towards religious education preferences in German public schools. By applying a multinomial logit model, we examined to what extent Islamophobic, xenophobic and religious attitudes predict whether people (i) support the provision of Islamic education, (ii) prefer only Christian education or (iii) opt for no religious education at all. Results show that Islamophobic and xenophobic attitudes are relevant indicators of objection against the provision of Islamic education in particular, while religiosity and religious style determine whether people support having religious education in general. Furthermore, the effect of Islamophobia and xenophobia depends on religious style. With these results the current study provides a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying resistance towards accommodating Islam in the public sphere.

Reversal of gender differences in educational attainment: an historical analysis of the West German case

Background information: During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, West Germany witnessed a reversal of gender differences in educational attainment, as females began to outperform males.Purpose: The main objective was to analyse which processes were behind the reversal of gender differences in educational attainment after 1945. The theoretical reflections and empirical evidence presented for the US context by DiPrete and Buchmann (Gender-specific trends in the value of education and the emerging gender gap in college completion, Demography 43: 1–24, 2006) and Buchmann, DiPrete, and McDaniel (Gender inequalities in education, Annual Review of Sociology 34: 319–37, 2008) are considered and applied to the West German context. It is suggested that the reversal of gender differences is a consequence of the change in female educational decisions, which are mainly related to labour market opportunities and not, as sometimes assumed, a consequence of a ‘boy’s crisis’.Sample: Several databases, such as the German General Social Survey, the German Socio-economic Panel and the German Life History Study, are employed for the longitudinal analysis of the educational and occupational careers of birth cohorts born in the twentieth century.Design and methods: Changing patterns of eligibility for university studies are analysed for successive birth cohorts and gender. Binary logistic regressions are employed for the statistical modelling of the individuals’ achievement, educational decision and likelihood for social mobility – reporting average marginal effects (AME).Results: The empirical results suggest that women’s better school achievement being constant across cohorts does not contribute to the explanation of the reversal of gender differences in higher education attainment, but the increase of benefits for higher education explains the changing educational decisions of women regarding their transition to higher education.Conclusions: The outperformance of females compared with males in higher education might have been initialised by several social changes, including the expansion of public employment, the growing demand for highly qualified female workers in welfare and service areas, the increasing returns of women’s increased education and training, and the improved opportunities for combining family and work outside the home. The historical data show that, in terms of (married) women’s increased labour market opportunities and female life-cycle labour force participation, the raising rates of women’s enrolment in higher education were – among other reasons – partly explained by their rising access to service class positions across birth cohorts, and the rise of their educational returns in terms of wages and long-term employment.

The Pluralisation of Living Arrangements – A Continuous Trend?

This paper investigates to what extent a pluralisation of living arrangements can be observed in Germany up to the present day – both on the household level as well as the individual level. The analyses are based on data from the microcensus and the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) from the last decades.On the household level, eight different living arrangements are distinguished depending on the marital status and the number of generations living in the household. The results show that pluralisation mainly occurred between 1972 and 1996. In contrast, the diversity of living arrangements in West Germany has remained unchanged during the last 20 years, and it even slightly decreased in East Germany. A different picture emerges when separately looking at one-generation and two-generation households. Living arrangements with children have also diversified in recent years, which is mainly the result of less married couples with children.On the individual level, the classification of living arrangements was extended by the characteristic gender-specific division of labour, since the changed role of women is seen as the crucial factor for the changes in the familial sector. The results indicate a continuous pluralisation of living arrangements. This pluralisation of the familial sector is mainly caused by the male breadwinner model losing importance. This trend is more pronounced in East Germany than in West Germany.A cohort analysis reveals a bimodal distribution of diversity on the age-axis: entropy is highest around the ages of 30 and 60, since living arrangements often change at these points. Individuals often marry around the age of 30, and the transition to an “empty nest” mostly occurs around the age of 60. The cohort analysis for different age groups shows that the diversity of living arrangements is generally higher amongst younger cohorts than amongst older cohorts.

Political Depolarization in German Public Opinion, 1980–2010

Little is known about political polarization in German public opinion. This article offers an issue-based perspective and explores trends of opinion polarization in Germany. Public opinion polarization is conceptualized and measured as alignment of attitudes. Data from the German General Social Survey (1980 to 2010) comprise attitudes towards manifold issues, which are classified into several dimensions. This study estimates multilevel models that reveal general and issue- as well as dimension-specific levels and trends in attitude alignment for both the whole German population and sub-groups. It finds that public opinion polarization has decreased over the last three decades in Germany. In particular, highly educated and more politically interested people have become less polarized over time. However, polarization seems to have increased in attitudes regarding gender issues. These findings provide interesting contrasts to existing research on the American public.

Subjektiver Sozialstatus und gesundheitsbezogene Lebensqualität bei Erwachsenen in Deutschland

The impact of subjective perception of social status on health has been analysed in international health research for several years. However, in Germany the empirical analysis of the relation between subjective social status (SSS) and health is still in the very early stages. This study investigates if health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in German adults is associated with SSS over and above conventional measures of social status. The results are based on the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS 2010), a representative cross-sectional survey of the adult resident population in Germany (n=2 827). HRQoL was assessed with 4 items referring to self-rated health (SRH) and impairment of well-being due to bodily pain, depressiveness, and loneliness. SSS was measured with a 10-point scale where participants rated their status in society. The impact of SSS on HRQoL was analysed separately for men and women using logistic regression models adjusted for age, school education, net equivalent household income, and occupational position. Poorer SRH, bodily pain, depressiveness, and loneliness occurred significantly more often in men and women with low SSS compared to those with higher SSS. After adjusting for age, education, income, and occupation, the effects of SSS on SRH and depressiveness remained significant in men and women (SRH: men: OR=4.76; 95% CI=2.52-8.99; women: OR=2.95; 95% CI=1.74-4.99; depressiveness: men: OR=2.86; 95% CI=1.60-5.10; women: OR=2.75; 95% CI=1.65-4.56). The effects of SSS on bodily pain and loneliness were observed only in women after adjustment for objective status indicators (OR=1.75; 95% CI=1.07-2.86 and OR=3.03; 95% CI=1.43-6.42, respectively). These findings indicate that self-perception of social disadvantage affects HRQoL in German adults independently and partly gender-specifically. Hence, complementary to objective status indicators the SSS offers additional potential for describing and explaining health inequalities.

Intrinsic work motivation and pension reform preferences

AbstractAlthough demographic change leaves pay-as-you-go pension systems unsustainable, reforms, such as a higher pension age, are highly unpopular. This contribution looks into the role of intrinsic motivation as a driver for pension reform preferences. Theoretical reasoning suggests that this driver should be relevant as it decreases the subjective costs of a higher pension age. We test this key hypothesis on the basis of the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS). The results are unambiguous: in addition to factors such as age or education, the inclusion of intrinsic work motivation helps improving our prediction of an individual's reform orientation.