Spatially weighted context data and their application to collective war experiences

TitleSpatially weighted context data and their application to collective war experiences
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2012
AuthorsElcheroth, G, Penic, S, Fasel, R, Giudici, F, Glaeser, S, Joye, D, Le Goff, J-M, Morselli, D, Spini, D
JournalLIVES Working Papers
Volume2012
Issue19
Pagination1-38
PublisherNCCR LIVES
Place PublishedLausanne
Type of ArticleResearch paper
ISSN2296-1658
Keywordscollective experiences, collective guilt, context effects, formative years, former Yugoslavia, multilevel analyses, scale effects, spatial analyses, war exposure
Abstract

In this paper, we introduce spatially weighted context data as a new approach for studying the contextual dimension of factors that shape social behaviour and collective worldviews. First, we briefly discuss the current contribution of multilevel regression to the study of contextual effects. We subsequently provide a formal definition of spatially weighted context data, as a complement to and extension of the existing multilevel analyses, which allows studying contextual influences that decrease with increasing distance, rather than contextual influences that are bound within discrete contexts. To show how spatially weighted context data can be generated and used in practice, we present a research application about the impact of the collective experiences of war across the former Yugoslavia. Using geographically stratified survey data from the TRACES project, we illustrate how empirical conclusions about the collective impact of war events vary as a function of the scale at which context effects are being modelled. Furthermore, we show how observed geographic patterns can be explained by underlying patterns of social proximity between the concerned populations, and propose a procedure to estimate the part of spatial dependency explained by models applying specific definitions of social proximity. In the final section, we discuss the boundary conditions for the use of spatially weighted context data and summarise the contribution of the proposed approach to existing methods for the study of context effects in the social sciences.

DOI10.12682/lives.2296-1658.2012.19

I wouldn't have stopped working if I had known our couple turned that way. A biographical account of labour force participation and conjugal love

TitleI wouldn't have stopped working if I had known our couple turned that way. A biographical account of labour force participation and conjugal love
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2012
AuthorsWidmer, E, Schicka, M, Ernst Stähli, M, Le Goff, J-M, Levy, R
JournalLIVES Working Papers
Volume2012
Issue18
Pagination1-21
PublisherNCCR LIVES
Place PublishedLausanne
Type of ArticleResearch paper
ISSN2296-1658
Keywordsintimacy, love, marital satisfaction, occupational trajectories, work
Abstract

This study examines how men and women’s subjective evaluation of their work trajectories after childbirth influence their perceptions of conjugal love. Data are drawn from the study “Social Stratification, Cohesion and Conflict in Contemporary Families” (Widmer et al., 2003a). The results show that having a discontinuous and reduced work trajectory decreases women’s declared level of conjugal love, especially if the interruption is perceived as a sacrifice. Women’s feelings of love also depend on the way in which their male partners consider their own work trajectories. Men’s feelings of love are much less sensitive to their own and their partners’ work trajectories. The results are discussed within the life course perspective.

DOI10.12682/lives.2296-1658.2012.18