ABSTRACT
The level of openness may have an impact on the social structures of countries and the behavior and attitudes of its citizens. The economic openness of a country implies that a large number of people works for a company involved in international trade, affecting their employment security since there is a chance that the company could decide to move its production to another part of the world. In countries with a higher level of social openness, people are more in contact with other parts of the world, for instance through the Internet, and these countries are also characterized by greater cultural diversity. This increased heterogeneity affects people’s attitudes and behavior towards other groups in society in particular, rendering solidarity more problematic than in relatively homogeneous groups. Political openness is likely to have a less direct effect on daily life compared to the other two, since it resides at the level of international relations, the connections between political actors. Nevertheless, people do get informed about political debates at that level through the media, and now and again, international political developments provoke reactions from the public.
