The Working Class Left Behind ? The Class Gap in Life Satisfaction in Germany and Switzerland over the Last Decades

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Serval ID
serval:BIB_99AA70846EE9
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
The Working Class Left Behind ? The Class Gap in Life Satisfaction in Germany and Switzerland over the Last Decades
Journal
European Societies
Author(s)
Lipps Oliver, Oesch Daniel
ISSN
1461-6696 (Print)
1469-8307 (Online)
Publication state
Published
Issued date
15/03/2018
Volume
4
Number
20
Pages
549-571
Language
english
Abstract
The 1990s and 2000s were a gloomy period for Germany’s working class, hit by mass unemployment, welfare retrenchment and wage stagnation. We examine whether the growing economic disparity between the top and the bottom of Germany’s class structure was accompanied by a widening class gap in life satisfaction. We analyse whether there is a social class gradient in life satisfaction and whether, over the last decades, this class gradient increased in Germany, relative to the comparison case of Switzerland. We use panel data for Germany (1984–2014) and Switzerland (2000–2015) and check the
robustness of our results by replicating our analysis with the pooled German and Swiss samples of the European Social Survey (2002–2014). In both countries, respondents in higher classes report substantially higher life satisfaction than those in lower classes. The class gap is twice as large in Germany than in Switzerland. In Germany, the class gap in life satisfaction
narrowed between 1984 and 1990, strongly widened between 1990 and 2005 and then decreased again after 2010. In Switzerland, the class gap did not follow a clear time trend, but remained basically constant. In Germany, differences in unemployment risks and household income account for half of the class gap and its evolution over time.
Keywords
Life satisfaction, social class, unemployment, Germany, Switzerland, income inequality
Open Access
Yes
Create date
16/03/2018 18:36
Last modification date
21/11/2022 9:24
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