Title:
Europeanization of Inequality and European Reference Groups

Abstract:
In this paper we take advantage of the recent availability of EU SILC data relating to a wide range of EU countries to contribute to the recent debate relating to the Europeanization of reference groups. Our analysis addresses both weak and strong versions of the thesis. The former proposes that notions of an acceptable level of participation in one’s own society come to be influenced significantly by knowledge of conditions in other societies. The latter argues that people increasingly perceive themselves as part of a larger European stratification system. Our analysis leads us to reject both versions of the thesis. Rather than material deprivation having a uniform effect on subjective economic stress across national boundaries, its impact is highly dependent on national context. The impact of consumption deprivation declines in a proportionate manner as the level of national deprivation increases. An assumption of uniform effects across the EU would lead us to miss people in richer societies experiencing genuine exclusion from their societies while counting substantial numbers in such societies who are not experiencing such exclusion. In a context where the Europeanization of inequality is raising issues relating to both national and transnational forms of legitimacy, it is important to understand that there is no necessary relationship between such Europeanization and the Europeanization of reference groups.