A New Social Conflict on Globalisation-Related Issues in Germany? A Longitudinal Perspective

verfasst von

Céline Teney, Li Kathrin Rupieper

Abstract

We draw on cleavage theory to assess the emergence of a social conflict concerning globalisation-related issues among the German population between 1989 and 2019. We argue that issue salience and opinion polarisation are key conditions for a successful and sustainable political mobilisation of citizens and thus for the emergence of a social conflict. In line with globalisation cleavage theory, we hypothesised that issue salience as well as overall and between-group opinion polarisation on globalisation-related issues have increased over time. Our study considers four globalisation-related issues: immigration, the European Union (EU), economic liberalism, and the environment. While the salience of the EU and economic liberalism issues remained low during the observed period, we found a recent increase in salience for the issues of immigration (since 2015) and the environment (since 2018). Furthermore, our results point to rather stable attitudes on globalisation-related issues among the German population: We did not find any consistent evidence of an increase in overall or between-group polarisation over time. In conclusion, the idea of an emerging conflict around globalisation-related issues among the German population finds very little empirical support.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Wirtschaftspolitik

Externe Organisation(en)

Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin)

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Kolner Zeitschrift fur Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie

Band

75

Seiten

205-234

Anzahl der Seiten

30

ISSN

0023-2653

Publikationsdatum

12.2023

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Sozialpsychologie, Soziologie und Politikwissenschaften

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 10 – Weniger Ungleichheiten

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11577-023-00884-5 (Zugang: Offen)