ABSTRACT
Social inequalities are known to influence political attitudes and, in particular, the satisfaction of citizens with the political situation in their countries. What is less well known is the extent to which the experience of diverging living conditions between European countries affects political satisfaction as well. On the basis of a representative survey from nine countries (Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), this chapter aims to measure the extent to which the feeling of being worse off than other Europeans impacts on the readiness to support national politics. The analyses focus on the citizens’ perceptions of the economic crisis, their satisfaction with their national governments, their likelihood of sharing populist attitudes and their readiness to participate in political protest actions. The main aim is to validate whether objective exposure to social inequalities and subjective perceptions of inequalities between European countries have an impact on these attitudes. Findings show that this is true for most of the variables analysed, given that perceptions of inferior living conditions increase crisis sensitivity, political dissatisfaction and populist orientations, even when controlling for the effect of a number of other relevant factors.
