Tuesday 14th July      Wednesday 15th July      Thursday 16th July      Friday 17th July     

Tuesday 14th July, 11:00 - 12:30 Room: L-101

Analyses of social change with cross-sectional and longitudinal data 1
Convenor	Ms Malgorzata Mikucka (Universite catholique de Louvain )
Coordinator 1	Mr Francesco Sarracino (STATEC, Luxembourg)

Session Details

The availability of repeated cross-sectional surveys and of panel data allows analyzing social change over time. This kind of analyses became popular after the recent studies on the relationship between economic growth and the trends of subjective well-being. Since then, this approach has been applied in various domains. Currently, researchers are increasingly interested in combining longitudinal and cross-sectional approaches to study social change. However, this field of research is still in its infancy and consequences of various methodological choices are still not well understood.

This session invites papers discussing the conceptual and methodological problems of analyzing social change over time with data such as macro-level time series, cross-sectional, and longitudinal surveys. In particular we welcome substantive research which investigates social change over time, presents novel methodological approaches, as well as postulates “good practices” in analyzing such data. The topics include, but are not restricted to:

1. Research which investigates short- and long-term trends over time, as well as discusses methods of estimating trends and their consequences;
2. Analyses of relationships between changes occurring in various domains of social life, performed both within time-series and comparative frameworks;
3. Papers that distinguish between the effects of cross-sectional differences and the effects of overtime changes of the same factors;
4. Studies analyzing social change with comparative panel data.

Paper Details

1. The coevolution of inequality and tolerance: Contextual changes and acceptance of homosexuality across 28 countries, 1981-2013
Dr Raül Tormos (University of Barcelona & Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió)

I analyze the large change in attitudes towards homosexuality taken place across 28 countries between 1981 and 2013 using WVS data. My results contradict the impressionable-years model and the age-stability hypothesis, showing that changes in tolerance have come mainly from within-cohort adjustments. I emphasize the way in which changes at the context level are able to influence the dynamics of individual tolerance across countries. I apply novel multilevel techniques to account for two fundamental aspects: 1) the dynamic as well as the comparative nature of international repeated cross-section data; 2) the identification of APC effects, and

2. Modernization and the change in attitudes toward female public role 1988-2008. Drivers and mechanisms of change in 7 cultural contexts
Ms Vera Lomazzi (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan)

The change in gender role attitudes is related to the modernization processes (rising in education, female employment and secularization) differently developed in Europe. Using data from EVS, WVS, ISSP, the analysis inquires how social change in attitudes toward female roles occurs longitudinally (1988-2008) in seven cultural contexts and what factors drive this change. By using multiple regression and linear cohort decomposition, the paper demonstrates that the change in attitudes in private area is slower and due to period effects, in public sphere it is faster and due to cohort replacement. Education figures as the main driver of this social

3. Measuring Social and Individual Change with Different Longitudinal Research Designs
Dr Tobias Gummer (GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences)

Longitudinal research designs are used to measure social and / or individual change. Depending on which change to track, different research designs may be used in order to achieve the best results possible. Yet, the literature lacks empirical evidence on how different longitudinal research designs perform. In addition, we are confronted with a variety of hybrid designs (i.e. combinations of repeated cross-section and panel design) which differ from the original design. This paper analyzes the potential of several hybrid panel designs to measure social and/or individual change in comparison to classic panel and repeated cross-section designs.

4. Gender, backwardness and mobility: post-2000s India
Dr Mariko Kato (Seinan Gakuin University)

This paper tries to assess how the recent Indian economic growth affected empowerment for the socially backward – status of women and social backward classes through changing mobility according to the rapid economic growth and recent slowdowns, by using Census and NSS of the 2000s. India’s economic growth has failed to meet inflated aspiration of economically backward households to move economically upward, because of lack of creation of new jobs in urban areas, and it could rather accelerate relative inequality and disparities within the backward via migration process.