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This study compares the quality of responses to eight matrix questions (36 variables) included in a survey administered on paper and by computer in two equivalent samples. Three criteria have considerated: 1) the average of non-response questions for each mode; 2) the repetition (or not) of the same response in different question items (differentiation); and, 3) the choice of extreme and middle response alternatives on the scale (easy responses). The paper questionnaires provided a greater number of non-response questions, with no change in non-response rates when taking into account scale range: 4, 5, 10 and 11 categories. The electronic questionnaire showed slightly greater differentiation and fewer extreme responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares the quality of responses to eight matrix questions (36 variables) included in a survey administered on paper and by computer in two equivalent samples. Three criteria have considerated: 1) the average of non-response questions for each mode; 2) the repetition (or not) of the same response in different question items (differentiation); and, 3) the choice of extreme and middle response alternatives on the scale (easy responses). The paper questionnaires provided a greater number of non-response questions, with no change in non-response rates when taking into account scale range: 4, 5, 10 and 11 categories. The electronic questionnaire showed slightly greater differentiation and fewer extreme responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the behaviour of the populist parties in the Spanish Parliament. This involved examining the type of initiatives submitted and the voting patterns in the chamber, as well as the themes in the agendas of two parties, Unidas Podemos and Vox, in the 12th and 14th parliamentary terms. The literature suggests that populist parties engage in defiant and uncooperative behaviour in institutions and proposed differentiated and concentrated parliamentary agendas. However, I argue that this behaviour can be nuanced by contextual, ideological and strategic factors. The analysis suggests that the Spanish populist parties reproduce and amplify pre-existing ideological and territorial divisions in the legislative institution, instead of introducing new logics of conflict (e.g., populism/anti-populism). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to contrast with quantitative statistical analyses whether the determinants of Spaniards' preferences over favoring wealth taxation behave similarly across different policy alternatives. To do so, and based on the literature review, we exploit the special questionnaire included in the 2019 wave of the Spanish Institute for Fiscal Studies Fiscal Barometer and carry out three empirical exercises, each devoted to one of the three corresponding policy alternatives under scrutiny. We also perform a robustness check contrasting whether those determinants are the same for a single policy that would comprise these three policies at once. According to the results achieved, corroborated by those obtained from the robustness check, the determinants of Spaniards' toward favoring wealth taxation rely on self-interest arguments and values and behave almost entirely in a similar fashion across different policy alternatives. Several policy recommendations arise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines associative participation in Spanish society from a gender perspective, focusing on participation levels, associative integration and forms of associationism. The following research questions were formulated: “Do levels of associative participation differ between men and women?” and “Do men and women participate in the same type of associations?”. To respond to these questions, data from the 2019 Survey on Social Capital in Spain was analyzed. This data is representative at a national level, and descriptive, correlational and ordered logistic regression analyses were performed. It was concluded that evidence supports a burden of gender roles in terms of associationism, especially for political associationism, creating a ceiling effect for participation and even social trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The eventual disconnection between voters´ preferences and specific policies is of special concern in decentralized countries, where any policy initiative might be simultaneously seen either as an erosion or a reinforcement of selfrule. The aim of this paper is to apply this framework to the harmonization of the Spanish Inheritance and Gift Tax (IGT). We econometrically contrast whether citizens´ living in Autonomous Communities (ACs) that led a tax race to the bottom regarding this tax or in those that exert a greater taste for political autonomy are more likely to oppose a more nationally uniform tax than the rest of Spaniards. Empirically, we exploit data from the 2019 wave of the Institute for Fiscal Studies Fiscal Barometer. According to our main results, citizens living in low taxation ACs and citizens living in some more pro-self-rule regions are even more likely to favor harmonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spain has one of the highest in-work poverty rates in Europe and a high degree of job instability. Reducing in-work poverty requires an understanding of the entry and exit mechanisms specific to this situation, as well as the protective and risk factors involved. Based on data from the Spanish Living Conditions Survey (2017- 2020), this paper shows that households with children are more likely to experience in-work poverty, and that in-work poverty is more persistent in these cases. That said, entry into and exit from poverty is mostly associated with employment-related events, and to a lesser extent, with changes in household composition. The concentration of in-work poverty in households with children results from a process of erosion and accumulated risks, whereby wage losses have a greater effect on the risk of poverty, and the social protection system appears to be insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relying on aggregate-level or cross-sectional survey data, extant research suggests that economic inequality erodes social trust. In this article we distinguish between cross-sectional and longitudinal components of inequality, using a sample of approximately 140,000 individuals in 19 countries over a thirty year period (1990- 2020). Accounting for individual-level predictors as well as the direct and conditional effect of income, findings suggest a strong negative association between inequality and trust among countries. Individuals from countries with higher levels of inequality systematically report lower levels of trust, but evidence is less clear to substantiate that individuals are less trusting of one another during times of higher inequality. In the second part of the paper, we reassess these findings using subnational data for Spain between 2008 and 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses Spanish citizens' views of public service expenditure, related to their socio-demographic characteristics, values and political economic conjunctures. The study's contributions are: 1) Bringing the analysis up to the present time, including the COVID and post COVID periods; 2) Analysing the determinants by using a multivariate regression analysis; and 3) Studying the relationship between assessments of public service expenditure and actual spending, identifying significant patterns, especially in education and healthcare. The results obtained are robust, especially for welfare policy assessments. Important sociological changes in the assessment of public policies are identified and additional evidence is provided about the highly important role played by cultural values ("symbolic predispositions") with respect to "self-interest" in explaining the assessment of public spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study analyses the explanatory order of variables such as political identification, political efficacy and electoral participation in the political system from a multi-directional perspective. It also investigates how these variables are in turn influenced by segmentation variables, including age, gender, income, educational level, social class and religiosity. The paper examines the structural relationships between socio-demographic profiles and voter turnout, considering the potential influence of political efficacy and party identity. Structural models were applied using data from the CIS 3226 Survey. The findings indicate the significant role of political identification in explaining perceived political efficacy and electoral behaviour, the effect of political efficacy on voter turnout, and the changing influence of classical segmentation variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The access of rural societies to welfare opportunities and resources is at the core of policy and research agendas. The persistent ruralurban gap increases the risks of exclusion and is a challenge that rural dwellers tackle by bolstering their mobility to access labour markets, resources and services. The car has become a vector in the connections and transformations that sustain rural life; however, this mobility is also a source of new fractures in social and territorial cohesion. This paper explores how the rural mobility system has been shaped and analyses its impact on these societies. The results suggest integrating the issue of mobility into rural policies from a more complex sociological perspective, addressing demographic challenges, regional development and territorial cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the dynamics of affective polarisation in Spain, going beyond quantifying the phenomenon based on a scale and opting for an individual classification system that allows us to distinguish between groups of polarized and non-polarized voters. In addition, discriminant analysis is used to develop a profile of affectively polarized voters, and to determine the variables that characterize this voter. The main results indicate that voters polarize more with those parties that are ideologically further from their preferences, but within an ideological bloc, affective evaluations are not homogeneous. The study also addresses the impact of socio-demographic factors, ideological self-location and information consumption through social networks, television news and digital newspapers on affective polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 health crisis brought changes to people´s lives that affected them both physically and psychologically. The aim of this paper is to identify the key socio-psychological factors involved in the main changes to the mental health of the Spanish population, and to determine whether they had the same impact across genders. The survey data from the Spanish Centre for Sociological Research entitled "CIS Survey 3324 Effects and Consequences of Coronavirus IV" (specifically, question 14) were used to this end. Question variables were recoded into dummy variables for analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). The study found five key factors that have changed the mental health of the Spanish population: "being more empathic", "enjoying leisure more", "discovering new leisure activities", "being more religious or spiritual" and "being more interested in the future". All of these affected women more than men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse institutional change in the Spanish labour market in from a historical perspective, particularly regarding two main areas: labour regulation and collective bargaining. The main thesis is that it is possible to identify four main stages. Firstly, there was an institutional structure unfavourable to workers, which was overcome by the agency of the labour movement in the period of the so-called desarrollismo (1960-1975). Secondly, the years of transition from dictatorship to democracy (1976-1983) were a period of labour market regulation. Thirdly, there was a period of labour market dualism (1984-1996) based on the application of flexibility at the margin in the face of veto power. This was followed by deregulation (1997-2019), which was a consequence of the weakening of power resources resulting from the previous labour market segmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the association between parental divorce during childhood and children's university attainment in Spain, based on parental socioeconomic status. For this, linear probability models were estimated, using data from the Spanish General Social Surveys of 2013, 2015 and 2017. The results suggest a negative association between parental divorce and the probability of children obtaining university degrees, with a higher penalty occurring when the divorce occurs when the child is aged 0-5 or 12-16 years. Moreover, the penalty of divorce on the probability of obtaining a university degree is higher for children of parents having a high socioeconomic status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the efforts to combat gender-based violence in Spain since the passing of Law 1/2004. This is the applicable legal framework in the fight against gender-based violence (GBV). Based on the official data on the complaints and on the victims of genderbased violence, an empirical analysis was carried out to assess whether the public policies implemented by the Spanish government in the fight against gender-based violence have been effective. The results indicate that, even though Spain is one of the most advanced countries in this area, 15 years after Law 1/2004 was passed, the legal actions contained in it are still insufficient for the eradication of genderbased and domestic violence. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations to broaden the debate on the fight against genderbased violence in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between job loss and marital breakdown (separation or divorce) during the last economic crisis using Spanish panel data. In contrast with other papers that have examined this issue in other countries, our results revealed that the working status of women plays a role in marital break-up decisions in Spain. The results suggested that the probability of separation or divorce decreases when women are not working. The same was observed when accounting for a change in the working status of women from employed to unemployed and from employed to inactive. For men, only the change from employed to inactive appears to be negatively related to the probability of marital breakdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of selective exposure maintains that individuals tend to choose news media outlets that are consistent with their beliefs. This paper examines selective exposure when there is public debate on the tensions between national identities, specifically, the debate between supporters of the independence of Catalonia and those opposed to it. The results showed that there was a strong correlation between position on independence and choice of television channel in Catalonia. Another determining factor was language. It was also noted that the degree of selective exposure intensified slightly at specific times when social polarisation increased throughout the period studied (2015-2020). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to determine the influence that the state of the economy had on the electoral behaviour of Andalusians in the regional election held on 2 December 2018. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the perception that Andalusians had of the economic situation and whether this determined their electoral response to a minority parliamentary government, sustained with the support of the Ciudadanos party. Both our findings and the subsequent results in the 2018 Andalusian Parliament election showed a clear erosion of the support for the incumbent PSOE party, as well as for the main opposition party (PP). Ciudadanos, which had acted as support party, doubled its electoral base and improved its results, as did Vox. They were the only two parties to improve their previous electoral results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies how people in the Euro Area Member States identified as European during the Great Recession and examines both their perceptions about being European and their attachment to Europe. It analyses the effect of the crisis on the relationship between European and national identifications (the identification approach), including public debt as a key contextual factor. Factors related to the rational instrumental approach and cognitive mobilisation were controlled for. The analyses indicated that the higher a country's public debt, the greater the positive effect that national identification had on the perception of being European, whereas this relationship was negative at lower levels of public debt. Conversely, the higher a country's public debt, the weaker the positive relationship between national identification and the attachment to the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses housework gender inequality in Spain. Whether the sharing of housework and paid work between husbands and wives is driven purely by economic rationality or whether there are other factors related to gender identity at the root of intra-household gender inequality, remains an open debate. This article assesses the role of the gender deviance neutralization hypothesis and examines whether it overrides the explanatory power of economic exchange theory in the distribution of unpaid housework in Spain. Housework stochastic frontiers are constructed for each partner in heterosexual co-resident couples to identify the factors behind inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The institutional coding of homeless people from care services is part of the social construction of a problem related to unequal access to housing, which, however, tends to turn personal factors into sufficient causes to explain the residential exclusion of these people. This paper presents the case of a Shelter and Insertion Centre, based on an interpretative research that systematises the data collected during a sustained participant observation between 2008 and 2016. The multidimensional analysis takes into account the normative framework, the organisation of the space and the professional practices that take place in the Centre. The conclusions point out the contradictions that arise when confronting these practices of institutional coding with the theoretical objective of social inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The so-called procés (process of independence of Catalonia) has triggered abundant research seeking to analyse what factors explain the Catalan pro-independence movement. In contrast, there is a gap in the literature with regard to the Basque case, which this paper seeks to fill. The prevailing analyses to date have typically considered identity/ethnicity as the key variables to account for the pro-independence movement in the Basque Country. However, this study, seeks to go beyond this approach, to analyse the influence of other more instrumental factors. Based on the 1995-2016 period covered in this paper, the main conclusion is that the identity factor is key to the understanding of the pro-independence movement, but that it is far from being the only one. Our analysis has also showed that both political and economic conjunctural factors are important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the prevailing conflict framings of national (El País and El Mundo) and Catalan (La Vanguardia and El Periódico de Cataluña) newspapers in response to the management of the regional independence conflict (2010-2014). For this, a new conflict framing typology was developed, based on level of substantivity. The study has verified that territorial origin affects, but does not determine, the media's definition of the conflict and its preference for specific territorial models. The alignment between parties and the media appears to be the variable that best explains the orientation (pro-independence, constitutionalist, or federalist) of each newspaper. We have also verified the media's action as a polarizing agent based on territorial model preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the prevailing conflict framings of national (El País and El Mundo) and Catalan (La Vanguardia and El Periódico de Cataluña) newspapers in response to the management of the regional independence conflict (2010-2014). For this, a new conflict framing typology was developed, based on level of substantivity. The study has verified that territorial origin affects, but does not determine, the media's definition of the conflict and its preference for specific territorial models. The alignment between parties and the media appears to be the variable that best explains the orientation (pro-independence, constitutionalist, or federalist) of each newspaper. We have also verified the media's action as a polarizing agent based on territorial model preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a paucity of research that has linked participatory budgeting to tax revenues, and no studies that have attempted to find a potential causal relationship between participating in this type of process and increasing individuals' tax compliance. This paper therefore seeks to make a small contribution to the field by providing empirical evidence on this topic. Based on 530 questionnaires from a municipality with a track record in participatory processes, a system of structural equations was used to show how active engagement in a participatory budgeting process could lead to greater fiscal awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with how to recognise if the patterns of homophily found in a social network are resilient to small disturbances that may occur in that network. Data from a survey of students in a secondary school in the Canary Islands were replicated using an agent-based model. The model calculated homophily indices and their statistical significance and then simulated small alterations in the distribution of links. The results clearly show that some homophily indices resist these kinds of perturbations and others do not. Evidence suggests that the distribution of individuals across the social network communities is a key factor in explaining why certain patterns of relationships are more resilient than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a mixed-mode survey of the general population using a combination of postal, telephone, and Internet survey protocols. Potential respondents were invited to participate by ordinary mail and were allowed to choose their preferred response mode. The paper focuses on response quality (taking non-responses into consideration), fieldwork time and data collection cost. The results reveal that the Internet survey produces the lowest rate of non-responses and requires significantly less fieldwork time, although it is slightly more costly than the postal survey. However, when differences in cost structure are taken into account, we find that the same number of completed questionnaires could have been obtained through the Internet alone at a cost that is 18.2% lower than the mixed-mode survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change poses a major problem for the collective future. Ways of understanding the climatic future are many and diverse. This paper examines one of these methods, the so-called "reformist" approach, reconstructed from the conception of the climatic future in IPCC Reports on climate change. After establishing the formal and practical-cognitive dimensions, the institutional foundations used to specify these dimensions in this way are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a regional perspective to analyse the progression of the risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) rate in Spain during the recent crisis period. Various methodological issues related to how the components of the AROPE rate are integrated have brought into question its suitability as the Europe 2020 strategy indicator. As these problems are accentuated in the analysis of individual territories, this paper examines the effect of using regional poverty thresholds. When these are included, the risk of poverty or social exclusion is more consistent with the standard of living enjoyed in each territory. In addition, this paper mainly on the poverty rate by the application of a multiple linear regression model. Nonetheless, the explanatory power of the deprivation and employment indicators diminishes when using regional poverty thresholds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse the recent legislative changes in the domestic work sector in Spain, and to research into the impact of these changes on how the sector operates. Since 2011, numerous laws and regulations have been amended within the context of the financial crisis, which caused an uneven development and implementation of the applicable legislation. This paper discusses the results of a study that reviewed the legislation and the secondary sources related to the sector's composition and development in Spain. In-depth interviews were also conducted with domestic workers. The study shows the difficulties involved in reinforcing the changes made in the domestic work sector, due to its peculiar relationship with the productive and reproductive spheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse the recent legislative changes in the domestic work sector in Spain, and to research into the impact of these changes on how the sector operates. Since 2011, numerous laws and regulations have been amended within the context of the financial crisis, which caused an uneven development and implementation of the applicable legislation. This paper discusses the results of a study that reviewed the legislation and the secondary sources related to the sector's composition and development in Spain. In-depth interviews were also conducted with domestic workers. The study shows the difficulties involved in reinforcing the changes made in the domestic work sector, due to its peculiar relationship with the productive and reproductive spheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the apparent familism of Spanish society, family policies have never occupied an important place in the political sphere. However, various issues related to family policy have started to appear in the agenda of Spanish political parties in recent years. This paper analyses family-related issues in the electoral programmes of the five national parties that stood for election on 28 April, 2019, namely, Partido Socialista Obrero Español, Partido Popular, Ciudadanos, Unidas-Podemos, and VOX. A qualitative methodology was used that combined both content and discourse analysis. The results point to important ideological differences between these political parties based on their different conceptualisation of the family, but also to significant similarities on various issues related to "family pragmatics". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the estimates offered by political and social media on trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation in Spain. Estimates of the costs and economic benefits obtained by traffickers from their victims are calculated using different information sources. These sources are collected by the authors (interviews with key informants and traffickers, analysis of court rulings, ethnographic work, analysis of news items reported in the press, and memoirs from official bodies). The results question the contradictory and obsolete information used to refer to the number of victims, economic volumes, and the number of men paying for sexual services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European population practice insufficient physical-sports activity. A possible influential factor is work activity. This paper intends to know the association between compliance with WHO recommendations and labour variables, using data from the European Social Survey with a sample of 18,240 active workers from 20 countries. The results demonstrate that people who worked less hours were physically more active. In the same way, women and people with low incomes were more negatively affected by long work days. The geographical area, incomes and age were more conditioning for physical activity than work hours. Finally, the independence to organize daily work could contribute to a higher level of practice in women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the 2015 attacks in France, the country's government decreed a state of emergency for two years, which was subsequently repealed in favor of a new counterterrorism law in October 2017. When analyzing the counterterrorism law, the implementation of certain measures taken from the state of emergency can be observed in the period of social and political normality. The objective of this paper is to determine which measures have been transferred from one period to the other. According to the analysis, new French counterterrorism legislation has been confirmed since the normalization of the 2015 state of emergency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper outlines the validation of a family social capital (FSC) scale designed using the paradigm of relational sociology, and its application to explore the relations between FSC and other forms of social capital (SC). An exploratory factor analysis employing a principal component analysis method yielded three components, which accounted for the "support", "unity" and "ambivalence" dimensions of FSC. A structural equation model was constructed to explore the relation between FSC and generalised SC and civic SC. The findings indicated that a satisfactory validation of the FSC scale was achieved, and that ambivalence is an intrinsic element of FSC, as studies on intergenerational family solidarity have demonstrated. Moreover, the support and unity dimensions of FSC were negatively related to ambivalence, and positively (and only partially) related to generalised SC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies show the high prevalence of respondents who perform other activities while responding questionnaires. Due to the scarcity of studies and the possible impact of multitasking on the quality of data, this paper analyses the percentage of respondents who multitask, and examines the most frequent secondary activities engaged in during an online survey conducted with panelists in Spain (N = 1,007). It also analyses a series of variables that are associated with different forms of multitasking and examines the effects of this on the quality of the data. The findings showed a high prevalence of multitaskers (39.7%). In addition, it was found that the profile of the participants varied according to the type of activity they carried out. The effect of multitasking on the quality of the data was limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses territorial power relations in Spain by presenting an index of subnational autonomy, which assesses four decades of decentralized territorial authority in the country. Focusing mainly on Spain's regions, or Autonomous Communities, the study measures subnational autonomy in the fiscal, administrative, institutional and societal dimensions, and shows that subnational governments in Spain have been progressively enjoying higher levels of autonomy despite important setbacks experienced after the 2008 economic crisis. More specifically, the article highlights that this process presents identifiable patterns, which become manifest in the pace and order of granting autonomy. Furthermore, the paper provides some criteria for further research on the advances and setbacks of subnational autonomy in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses emerging forms in which life and work are interwoven, based on 20 ethnographic studies conducted in enterprises in Spain. Whereas after the Industrial Revolution work processes tended to be autonomous from the living environments of production agents, in recent decades a trend in the opposite direction has been observed in some companies. This re-articulation takes place at several levels: a) through the blurring of the boundaries that separate work and everyday life, b) through the reintegration of affective dimensions into work processes, c) in promoting reciprocity and sociability in the economic sphere and d) in the production of meaningful experiences at work. Are we witnessing an emancipating balance between life and work? Or, on the contrary, is private life being colonized by the sphere of production? In this paper we seek to explore a third form of analysis, that of reflexive modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present new theorisations of social structure in light of the new sociologies of the individual currently being developed in France. Although these sociologies are little known, they have significant value in rethinking today's society and sociology. Starting from a review of the concept and the main conceptions of social structure, I will focus on the most significant contributions of these new sociologies of the individual. To do this, on the one hand, it will be shown that the two classical traditions of social structure (institutional or cultural and as a class structure) are insufficient to explain today's society, in which the individual has become the main protagonist and key focus of sociology. On the other hand, in contrast with the old sociologies of the individual, which are centred on the micro level of social interaction, this paper analyses new structural constraints that limit the individual's action. The paper concludes with an invitation to develop these new sociologies at an individual scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present new theorisations of social structure in light of the new sociologies of the individual currently being developed in France. Although these sociologies are little known, they have significant value in rethinking today's society and sociology. Starting from a review of the concept and the main conceptions of social structure, I will focus on the most significant contributions of these new sociologies of the individual. To do this, on the one hand, it will be shown that the two classical traditions of social structure (institutional or cultural and as a class structure) are insufficient to explain today's society, in which the individual has become the main protagonist and key focus of sociology. On the other hand, in contrast with the old sociologies of the individual, which are centred on the micro level of social interaction, this paper analyses new structural constraints that limit the individual's action. The paper concludes with an invitation to develop these new sociologies at an individual scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the European Social Survey (ESS) is to further the existing knowledge about the attitudes, values, behaviours and sociodemographic characteristics of the population in different European countries. Using data from the ESS (Round 8) for Spain only, this paper analyses how the sample units were contacted and interviewed. The results indicate that contact rates were higher among those aged between 55 and 64 years old, and those that were visited to be interviewed on a Monday. It was also found that higher interview rates were obtained among young people (15-24 years old), those who reside in farms, people who lack access control systems in their homes (such as entry phones or fences), and those that reside in vandalism-free areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the representation quality of three face-toface household surveys. Two of them used probability samples and the other one selected the ultimate sampling units by using random route and quota sampling, with non-responses resulting in 'automatic' substitutions. The hypothesis to be tested is that random route sampling and quota sampling (with substitution) provide similar representative quality as home sampling (without substitution) based on the local population register. Marked differences were found in education level in the probability samples, where the deviations exceeded 25%. A different picture emerged when comparing employment variables, where quota sampling overestimated both the labour force participation rate (by 2.5% points) and unemployment rates (9.5% points). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Austerity policies, as a response to the economic crisis of 2008, have undermined the capacity of welfare state institutions to deal with inequality and poverty, particularly in Mediterranean countries. This article aims to examine households' civic experience of the Spanish welfare regime. After analysing 24 in-depth interviews of households in hardship in a context of recession, the paper identifies three frameworks encompassing civic interrelations between the state and the individual: the disciplining framework (1), the framework of mistrust (2) and the framework of justice (3). These frameworks give accounts of semantic places and ways of understanding the citizenship experiences of the individuals in these households and the bonds that connect them (or not) to hegemonic discourses about the recession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disaffection has grown significantly during the current crisis period in Spain. This contradicts the culturalist theses defended by the large majority of researchers who study disaffection. New research questions continue to arise in this new context. This paper aims to verify whether these changes are produced by the political, economic and social crisis, which would corroborate the hypothesis that disaffection is a conjunctural political attitude by using a hierarchical linear cross-classified model. The findings suggest that conjunctural factors play a more important role in the determination of political disaffection in Spain, which highlights the weakness of culturalism in explaining the change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental distress (non-specific psychological distress) is an important non-cognitive determinant of school performance that is often overlooked and is increasingly important in the international literature on integration. Meanwhile, epidemiological research in the United States shows that adolescents of Latin American origin are generally at higher risk of suffering from mental distress than other racial/ethnic groups, even after controlling for age, gender and socioeconomic status. Our results indicate that these adolescents are more likely to be distressed compared with native-born Spanish adolescents. The gap between children from these two origins amounts to around 6 per cent. The paper identifies two important variables related to migration that can explain this disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses media coverage of corruption scandals in Spain between 1996 and 2009. The fi rst aim is to determine to what extent the two most-read newspapers in Spain, El País and El Mundo, cover corruption scandals following different political orientations. Results illustrate highly partisan media coverage: there are important differences in how these newspapers cover corruption cases, depending on the political party involved (PP or PSOE). A second goal is to analyse whether the media influence citizens' perception of corruption as a public problem. Results show that, when the number of news stories on political corruption increases, the percentage of citizens that consider corruption as one of the most important problems in Spain also increases. Media impact on public opinion is high and occurs in the short- to mid-term. Finally, the paper analyses to what extent the perception of corruption is influenced by changes in the perception of the economic situation, by showing that this variable has low explanatory power compared to media coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the way participants change their mind in a deliberative forum. Its contribution lies in studying the extent to which these changes persist over time. We start from Mackie's assumption that changes of opinion in a deliberative context cannot be interpreted by considering isolated variables, but must be based on individual attitudinal networks in which preferences are embedded. The results show that certain changes after deliberation are not maintained by some individuals. The paper details the importance of certain variables in the change of opinion in the short and long term, as well as the relationship that exists between different attitudes (information, preferences, beliefs and political efficacy) at three different times before and after deliberation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]