Abstract Education, and mandatory schooling in particular, is a central mechanism for governments to improve life outcomes and prevent the accumulation of disadvantage across generations. Yet educational sociology research suggests that education can also entrench patterns of inequality, with children from immigrant backgrounds facing barriers to equal opportunity. Policy reforms to reverse such disadvantage include delaying the tracking age and offering free or subsidised daycare places to immigrant children. However, we know little about public support for such policies. In this article, we argue that one’s own experience of educational equality impacts micro-level preferences for equality-enhancing policies (EEPs). Using a survey experiment fielded in 2024 in Switzerland, our findings suggest that support for EEPs is a function of the one’s satisfaction with equal opportunities at school: Those who did not perceive their schooling to be fair and who attended school in less egalitarian cantons show the strongest support for reforming the system to become more egalitarian. We conclude that negative experience of schooling may have an, albeit indirect, effect on support for policies that reduce educational inequality. .
Abstract In the current times of polycrisis, citizens’ resilience is crucial but its determinants are not well-understood. We employ multilevel regression models using longitudinal individual-level and country-level data across 23 European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. In line with previous studies, we find that individuals’ resilience is driven by their economic, human, social, and “institutional capital.” We then specifically focus on objective measures and citizens’ subjective perceptions of institutional capital. We find that social expenditure in most policy areas is associated with individuals’ resilience. Labor market programs seem most important. Beyond government effectiveness, political stability, rule of law, and control of corruption also matter. In addition, subjective perceptions of public service quality and trust in public institutions are crucial, too, even after accounting for objective measures. These relationships are stronger in Southern and Northern Europe. Our findings suggest that strengthening citizens’ resilience requires strong governance and citizens’ positive perceptions of it.
Abstract Family policy in the United Kingdom shifted from expansionary social investment period under the Labour governments (1997–2010) to retrenchment after 2010. This article examines whether this shift corresponded with changes in parental eudaimonic well-being, focusing on agency, resilience, and sense of purpose. Using longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society, the analysis tracks within-individual well-being trajectories between 1997 and 2015. A segmented fixed-effects approach examines changes around a structural break in 2011. Sense of purpose shows the clearest immediate decline after 2011, while agency and resilience decline more gradually. These changes are most pronounced when individuals have young children in the household. Overall, the findings suggest that the parenthood gap in eudaimonic well-being widened after 2010. More broadly, the findings contribute to debates about how capacitating family policy shapes parents’ perceived capacity and what may be lost when such policies are withdrawn.
The present article has a twofold objective. First, it proposes the Long-Term Care Coordination Index (LTC-CoIn), an analytical tool designed to systematically evaluate the scope of intergovernmental and intersectoral coordination mechanisms in long-term care (LTC) systems, applicable to any territorially complex country. Second, it applies this index to analyse the governance of the Spanish LTC system (SAAD) from its creation in 2006 to the present day. The methodology adopts a mixed-methods approach grounded in historical neo-institutionalism, combining documentary analysis and 16 semi-structured interviews with public decision-makers at the state, regional, and municipal levels, as well as sector experts, with the systematic ordinal scoring of the LTC-CoIn indicators through the triangulation of this qualitative evidence. The findings reveal a significant asymmetry between the two dimensions of coordination: while intergovernmental mechanisms show a moderate degree of development, intersectoral integration between health and social services remains an unresolved structural challenge, with critical deficits in integrated information systems, referral protocols, and interprofessional training. Beyond the Spanish case, the LTC-CoIn provides a replicable analytical framework for synchronic and diachronic comparative studies across different federal and multilevel systems
Abstract This paper explores how homestay policies for displaced Ukrainians can be structured around hospitality and shaped by dynamics of reciprocity. Drawing on 29 interviews in Poland and 26 in the UK with individuals hosting Ukrainian war refugees, we apply Komter and van Leer’s (2012) hospitality framework to examine the selectivity, reciprocity, and potential for power imbalances within host–guest relationships. The article highlights how hospitality is selectively extended, with a clear preference for Ukrainian refugees, and how policy can facilitate selectivity (e.g. when hosts can choose their guests). We show that despite differences in contexts, hosting policy and practice in the two countries, reciprocity remains a central organising principle. Our findings also demonstrate the risks of dependency and unequal power relations inherent in hospitality-based arrangements. We argue for a greater role for the state in mediating these exchanges through financial support and regulatory safeguards, ensuring more equitable and secure hosting practices.
