Introduction to the special issue “Understanding social dynamics: 20 years of the swiss household panel”

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This study investigates the consequences of intergenerational social mobility for the transmission of political ideology from parents to adult children, taking the parental ideology explicitly into account. Analyses using German and Swiss household data show that especially the vertically upwardly mobile are less influenced by the parental ideology. However, longitudinal analyses do not indicate causal effects, but a self-selection mechanism into social mobility. These findings have consequences for the perception of social mobility effects.</abstract>

Opposing Forces? Intergenerational Social Mobility and the Transmission of Political Ideology

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This paper analyses trajectories of life satisfaction among elderly people in various family situations and tests whether the disadvantage related to being single or childless increases (as predicted by cumulative (dis)advantage hypothesis) or reduces (consistently with age-as-leveler hypothesis) when people get older. The results show that the disadvantage of never married mothers grows with age, whereas the disadvantage of divorced people reduces with age. The study suggests that, in general, the increasing probability of ageing without close kin does not put at risk life satisfaction of elderly people.</abstract>

Old-Age Trajectories of Life Satisfaction. Do Singlehood and Childlessness Hurt More When People Get Older?

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This study draws on the Swiss Household Panel and employs specific panel data methods to investigate whether work-life conflict – decomposed into time-, and strain-based conflicts – and lack of recovery during off-job time (i. e. psychological detachment from work) cause insomnia. The findings indicate that, when adequately accounting for individual hetero geneity and the relative importance of multiple causal factors, recovery and recuperation processes appear crucial to the experience of insomnia, while the significance of perceived work-life conflict recede, for both men and women.</abstract>

The Effect of the Work-Life Interface on Insomnia: A Longitudinal Analysis of Male and Female Employees in Switzerland

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Based on longitudinal analyses of data from the Swiss Household Panel, this paper investigates the effect of different types of debt on two evaluative measures of subjective well-being: financial satisfaction and life satisfaction. Payment arrears reduce financial satisfaction more than loans or the accumulation of different types of debt (arrears and loans). This negative effect is stable over time. Conversely, each additional year with arrears decreases life satisfaction, confirming the overall and general negative effect of arrears on all domains of daily life, especially for the elderly.</abstract>

Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences (FORS)

Debt and Subjective Well-Being: Does the Type of Debt Matter?

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Subjective well-being (SWB) has been positively correlated with political activity, however the causality of the effect remains debated. By estimating within-individual effects, I show that SWB decreases protest intentions, while its effect on voting is not significant. Despite the mutual influence between SWB and protest, the results suggest that the influence of SWB on protesting is stronger than the reverse effect, thereby setting an agenda for future research in this domain.</abstract>

Does Subjective Well-Being Affect Political Participation?

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Relying on the data of the Swiss Household Panel, the paper aims to make sense of the puzzling dissatisfaction union members exhibit in most dimensions of their job. A longitudinal approach reveals that the dissatisfaction is to a large extent explained by contextual and individual time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity. A decline in job satisfaction is for many workers the main reason to join a union. Job satisfaction climbs back as the years of membership increase, which confirms that unions do indeed have positive effects on the professional well-being of their members.</abstract>

The Curious Case of the Grumpy Union Member

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Using the Swiss Household Panel, we examine whether experiencing relationship dissolution, unemployment, or a health crisis increases support for the Swiss People’s Party (SVP). Fixed effects models shows this to be the case. Changes in financial resources, attitudes or trust in the government cannot explain this effect. Finally, we test whether increased support for the SVP following these events is more likely among individuals with lower trust and income levels and with views similar of those of the SVP. We find that individuals with traditional gender values are more likely to support the SVP after separation.</abstract>

(When) Do Critical Life Events Push People to the Populist Radical Right? Support for the Swiss People’s Party Following Relationship Dissolution, Unemployment or a Health Crisis

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Relying on the 2013 and 2016 rounds of individual questionnaires from the Swiss Household Panel (SHP), we use multiple correspondence analysis to map Swiss media consumption practices while making use of the longitudinal character of panel data in an innovative way. Our results show that individual practices can be distinguished along two main dimensions: on the one hand, the reliance on new media, which is explained mainly by the age cohort, and on the other hand, the consumption of news, which is explained mainly by changes in political interest as well as by gender.</abstract>

Digital Shift in Swiss Media Consumption Practices

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This paper investigates trends in Swiss women’s and men’s gender attitudes in the period 2000–2017 using the Swiss Household Panel data. Based on pooled OLS and fixed-effects models, we establish the following for women and men: (1) over this time period, attitudes towards gender roles become more egalitarian, while attitudes towards gender equality achievement remain stable; (2) the youngest cohort unexpectedly holds more traditional attitudes; and (3) individual attitudes change over the life course based on life events and the attitudes of one’s partner.</abstract>

Life Course and Inequality Research Centre (LINES)

Changing Attitudes Towards Gender Equality in Switzerland (2000–2017): Period, Cohort and Life-Course Effects

Book Reviews

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 49 (2023): Issue 3 (November 2023)

Volume 49 (2023): Issue 2 (July 2023)

Volume 49 (2023): Issue 1 (March 2023)

Volume 48 (2022): Issue 3 (November 2022)

Volume 48 (2022): Issue 2 (July 2022)

Volume 48 (2022): Issue 1 (March 2022)

Volume 47 (2021): Issue 3 (November 2021)

Volume 47 (2021): Issue 2 (July 2021)

Volume 47 (2021): Issue 1 (March 2021)

Volume 46 (2020): Issue 3 (November 2020)

Volume 46 (2020): Issue 2 (July 2020)

Volume 46 (2020): Issue 1 (March 2020)

Volume 45 (2019): Issue 3 (November 2019)

Volume 45 (2019): Issue 2 (July 2019)

Volume 45 (2019): Issue 1 (March 2019)

Volume 44 (2018): Issue 3 (November 2018)

Volume 44 (2018): Issue 2 (July 2018)

Volume 44 (2018): Issue 1 (March 2018)

Volume 43 (2017): Issue 3 (November 2017)

Volume 43 (2017): Issue 2 (July 2017)

Volume 43 (2017): Issue 1 (March 2017)

Volume 42 (2016): Issue 3 (November 2016)

Volume 42 (2016): Issue 2 (July 2016)

Volume 42 (2016): Issue 1 (March 2016)

Swiss Journal of Sociology

The Swiss Journal of Sociology is a generalist journal with the aim to advance academic discussions and scientific knowledge in sociology. It was established in 1975 on the initiative of the Swiss Sociological Association. It is published three times a year by the Swiss Sociological Association, with the support of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences.  The journal is the leading platform for sociological debates in Switzerland and on Swiss society and its developments. It publishes work on the theory, methods, practice, and history of sociology. Although a central aim of the journal is to reflect the state of the discipline in Switzerland, articles will be accepted irrespective of the author's nationality or whether the submitted work focuses on this country.  The journal is understood as a representative medium of Swiss sociology and therefore encourages contributions from all research areas and from a plurality of theoretical schools and methodological approaches. It neither favors nor excludes any research orientation but particularly aims to promote communication between different perspectives. It publishes innovative and methodologically rigorous articles contributing to the progress of the state of research in sociology. In order to fulfil this aim, all submissions will be refereed anonymously by at least two reviewers. The journal uses a double-blind peer review process.  The journal does not have article processing charges (APCs) nor article submission charges. Rejection rate:   65%   Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 