Public opinion and economic human rights: Patterns of support in 22 countries

ABSTRACT

This article describes the public's support for economic human rights enumerated in the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in twenty-two countries over two decades using nationally representative surveys from the International Social Survey Program. It also describes differences in support among key social groups within these countries. The findings suggest that support for economic human rights regime has declined considerably in many countries between the 1990s and 2006. This declining support is most pronounced with respect to the state's obligations to the unemployed and ill-housed. I also find that support for economic rights is generally stronger among women, those with low formal education, those in low-status occupations and supporters of leftist political parties.

Notes on contributor

Lyle Scruggs is a professor of political science and member of the Human Rights Institute's Research Program on Social and Economic Rights at the University of Connecticut. His recent research examines the impact of economic conditions on attitudes about climate change and the influence of social insurance protection on health outcomes.

Notes

1. Details about the individual surveys are archived at www.issp.org.

2. Whether or not different individuals (or human rights scholars) truly share a common perception of the parameters of any value proposition at different times and places is, at one level, a herculean assumption, although it is one that occurs anytime we wish to compare states of the world. And it is one commonly made in the analysis of public opinion. One presumed advantage of the use of identical survey items asked across time and space (as I do here) is that it at least holds the survey item constant. It would seem that a comparison of common understanding over time and space while varying the object of understanding (e.g., the proposition to be evaluated) might be more fraught.

3. The use of four response categories without a middle option forces respondents to express an opinion (or skip the question). This format might force people without an opinion to “choose a side.” Research suggests that, when surveys contain “neutral” answer options, they discourage effort in thinking about the question (Krosnick, Narayan, and Smith, 1996; Sturgis, Roberts, and Smith 2014).

4. The strongest case for business cycle effects is probably among the Eastern European countries surveyed: Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Russia, and Slovenia. All experienced profound economic dislocations and substantial drops in output in the early 1990s. Most of their economies had improved considerably by 2006. If one thought that support for economic rights grows in recessions, we would expect declines in support over time in the former Communist countries vis-á-vis the West. But there is not a lot of evidence of that happening; if anything, we see the opposite.

5. Unemployed implies that one is of working age and seeking work. It excludes categories including adults in full-time education and “stay-at-home” spouses.

6. This is borne out in the multivariate analysis as well, where gender may be the most consistent effect across countries and years (see the Appendix).

7. This result is available in the data appendix.