Project description
A survey of attitudes towards Social Europe
The European Union is focussed on strengthening its social dimension, reflected in the proclamation of the European Pillar of Social Rights in 2017. However, there remains some uncertainty about what the demand for a Social Europe actually means and whether European citizens support the development of EU-level policies to protect and enhance social rights in the EU. The EU-funded EUSOCDIV project will explore citizens’ attitudes towards various interpretations of Social Europe and member state solidarity. The aim is to gauge citizens’ concerns and to what extent they support the EU-level policy measures to protect and enhance social rights.
Objective
Political leaders of the European Union increasingly believe that a ‘Social Europe’ is indispensable for the continuation of the European project. Even though the course towards a more Social Europe is set, it remains unclear what the notion of Social Europe actually means, as it can refer to very different policy objectives and instruments. This is a problem since citizens’ support is crucial to democratic decision-making but is also unclear amidst opinions about specific interpretations of Social Europe. That problem is compounded by the lack of scholarly attention to how different citizen interpretations of Social Europe interact and vary across EU member states. This project aims to redress this major scholarly silence, by theoretically and empirically exploring citizens’ attitudes towards various interpretations of Social Europe. Specifically, it aims to unveil (1) to what extent European citizens are concerned about the protection of existing social rights and their further development, (2) to what extent Europeans support the development of EU-level policies to protect and enhance social rights (rather than only relying on domestic social policies in the member states to do so), (3) which combinations of policy measures, reflecting different underlying notions of ‘Social Europe’, are most supported by European publics, and (4) what dividing lines exist regarding these supportive attitudes within and across EU member states. To this end, the project relies on a unique combination of four different large-scale opinion surveys. The empirical results will deepen understanding of the stumbling blocks to consolidating and improving the welfare state and the European Union and identify pathways to strengthen the EU’s social dimension in a way that is supported by European publics. As such, the project clarifies the viability of Social Europe as a political project.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
1012WX Amsterdam
Netherlands