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This analysis probes the relationship between people's preferences for redistribution and their economic self-interest. We analyze personal finance and political opinion data from 30 countries included in the 2009 ISSP to analyze whether respondents' personal income, financial wealth, or housing wealth are related to their opinions about economic redistribution, poor aid, and unemployment support. Although we find some very modest evidence of a relationship between income and preferences in liberal welfare states, and between home equity, financial wealth, and preferences in Nordic countries, the limited evidence of broader patterns within our data and the small effect sizes of personal finance measures call into question the importance of these metrics for politics as they are portrayed in popular media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although wealth provides a range of important social and economic advantages above and beyond those of income, sociologists have largely neglected wealth in studies of stratification. Yet, despite paying lower effective tax rates than the vast majority of Americans, the wealthiest individuals--"the 1 percent"--exercise disproportionate influence over public policies, including those that affect taxation and redistribution. Meanwhile, non-wealthy citizens, who do not have such influence, would benefit disproportionately from alterations to redistributive social policies. While income has consistently been shown to be an important predictor of support for such redistributive social policies, with virtually every study of individual-level preferences for redistribution measuring its effects, no study has considered the effects of wealth, which may have as great or greater effects on such preferences. In this study, the relationship between wealth and support for redistributive social policies is examined in cross-national perspective using the 2009 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP data), the first wave of that study to include measures of wealth. Findings demonstrate that wealth is a more important predictor than income of support for redistribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I address the question of whether ethnic diversity affects public opinion about social spending. While there are several studies of the relationship between diversity and welfare state spending, little is known about how diversity affects the public's attitudes about social spending. Scholars have assumed that redistribution is lower in more diverse countries because individuals will oppose it when the beneficiaries do not look like themselves, but the empirical evidence that supports this claim is limited by its focus on the United States. To account for a more representative range of social spending configurations and more variation in the structure of ethnic diversity, I analyze a larger set of countries than is usually examined using data from the International Social Survey Programme and the World Values Survey. I hypothesize that diversity does not depress support for redistribution when the economic and political context that shape how it is experienced are considered. In order to maximize cross-national comparability and avoid concerns about the endogenous relationship between public opinion and public policy, I construct a measure of public opinion about redistribution that reflects the social spending context of respondents' countries. The central finding is that ethnic diversity itself is not a detriment to public support for redistributive policies, but is either positively related or unrelated to support for redistribution, which contradicts the idea that diversity is necessarily a socially divisive force. Rather, the economic and political factors that shape the experience of diversity within a country are more salient determinants of public opinion about redistribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the post-modern era, it is not uncommon to encounter people with ties to more than one religion. Yet, literature and data on the topic of multiple or dual religious identities, belongings, affiliations, ties (or whatever we should call these phenomena) are scarce. I discuss why we should give greater attention to this topic while reviewing some related existing data and literature. In addition, I present data on multiple denominational affiliations among Protestants from the 2000 General Social Survey (GSS) and offer some anecdotal evidence from my own fieldwork in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do societies vary so greatly in their equality and redistribution preferences? Using data from 89 countries spanning six continents, this paper examines explanations for variation in attitudes toward inequality and welfare policies ("stratification beliefs"). Previous research on stratification beliefs has focused exclusively on the United States or comparisons among Western countries. This paper contends that there is much to be learned about how and why stratification beliefs vary by a range of national characteristics by including the other regions of the world. The results carry implications that extend beyond the study of stratification beliefs by estabilishing a model for examining global variation in all types of beliefs and attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1990 and 2001, there was a notable decrease in mean life satisfaction in China. The percentage of Chinese reporting being "very happy," in the World Values Survey dropped by half. This study seeks to determine which factors have affected happiness and life satisfaction in China. Findings in this paper suggest that financial satisfaction and national pride are among the best predictors of both happiness and life satisfaction outcomes at the individual level in China. Since subjective well-being (SWB) has declined despite record macro-economic gains, the financial satisfaction finding suggests that the promotion of capitalism by the government and resulting dramatic increase in inequality have amplified the importance of relative economic circumstances at the individual level. Moreover, the relationship between national pride, which the Chinese government has fervently encouraged its people to embrace, and SWB, though not previously researched in depth, is consistent with recent research revealing an association between political ideology and individual perceptions of well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamism of the religious market in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has contributed to improvements in the lives of many of the city's poor, particularly in the areas of employment and drug-related violence. Though some might attribute these successes to the strictness of the most popular religious institutions, the prevalence of adolescent pregnancy and parenthood among their congregants, and the acceptance - or even approval - with which these young parents are received - suggests otherwise. This paper seeks to understand how discrepancies between moral beliefs and practice in everyday life are reconciled via a case study of lower class, adolescent mothers in Brazil, drawing on roughly 50 interviews conducted in Rio with young mothers, religious leaders who work with the poor, and staff members of both non-governmental and governmental organizations that operate in the city's favelas (shantytowns). I contend that the prevalence of ambiguity in key aspects of Brazilian culture, the extremity of the challenge posed by violence for communities, and the fiercely competitive nature of the country's religious market have contributed to the observed absence of religious strictness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]