Ravazzini, Laura

2019, Brulé, Gaël, Ravazzini, Laura, Suter, Christian, Brulé, Gaël, Suter, Christian

2017, Suter, Christian, Beycan, Tugce, Ravazzini, Laura, Odell Korgen, Kathleen

Poverty, the social question of the 19th century, is still one of the most pressing global issues both in the economically advanced, affluent societies of the global North and in the developing countries of the global South. Since the emergence of social problems and deviance as sociological concepts and fields of study in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, poverty has been a focus of concern. Other social phenomena labeled as social problems or forms of deviance (like violence, crime, alcoholism and drug addiction, divorce, family breakdown, suicide) are often considered to be directly linked to, and caused by, poverty. As with other phenomena treated as social problems, research on poverty has typically been applied and policy-oriented, i.e., pragmatic and solution-driven, often related to reform efforts and social policy measures. The diverse sociological perspectives on poverty, therefore, have emerged in specific national, regional and global policy contexts. Furthermore, poverty research often has a strong empirical focus, which is demonstrated by the fact that some of the first comprehensive sociological surveys dealt with poverty issues. Theoretically, diverse approaches have been developed to address poverty, and there is no consensus on the exact definition and conceptualization of poverty. Poverty research, finally, is a field of interdisciplinary research. Sociological perspectives on poverty, therefore, have emerged from a discourse among scholars of sociology, social work, economics and political science. Based on these considerations, the chapter is organized as follows: The first section presents the pioneers of classical sociological poverty research. The second section deals with the different poverty concepts and measurement debates that emerged during the early postwar period of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The third section focuses on the issue of poverty policy. The fourth section looks at contemporary sociological perspectives on poverty in the era of globalization. Finally, the last section summarizes the main trends in sociological poverty analysis over the past decades and points to the challenges for future research.

2019, Ravazzini, Laura, Piekalkiewicz, Marcin, Bianco, Adele, Conigliaro, Paola, Gnaldi, Michela

Income comparisons are often performed through the construction of reference groups. These groups are highly dependent on the sociodemographic characteristics collected by survey data. Gender is usually included in these characteristics only when the number of cases is large enough to have separate samples for women and men. So far, there has been no empirical proof on the fact that comparisons are within or between people of the same sex. With the support of specific questions collected in three waves of the pretest of the German Socio-Economic Panel, this study analyses income comparisons within and between gender groups. Results suggest that income comparisons are mainly within people of the same sex. On average, women compare more than men independently from the gender composition of the sector of employment. Despite the predominance of within-gender comparisons, between-gender comparisons exist. Regressions that test the effect of income comparisons and reference groups on subjective well-being are indeed better explained when gender is not included as a characteristic for the construction of reference groups.

2016, Suter, Christian, Kuhn, Ursina, Gazareth, Pascale, Crettaz, Eric, Ravazzini, Laura, Franzen, Axel, Jann, Ben, Joppke, Christian, Widmer, Eric

We compared time series of eight different data sources (HBS, SLFS, SESS, SHP, SILC, SHS, SPS, tax data) and calculated various inequality measures (Gini coefficient, Atkinson coefficient, Theil’s T, MLD, SCV, p90/p10, p80/p20, p50/p10, p90/p50) for the period from 1990 to 2012. While the level of inequality varies strongly across surveys, the results concerning the evolution over time are rather coherent. For disposable household income, inequality has remained stable, but evolves parallel to the business cycle of the Swiss economy. For individual employment income, findings across datasets are less consistent.

2018, Ravazzini, Laura, Kuhn, Ursina, Tillman, Robin, Voorpostel, Marieke, Farago, Peter

2016, Ravazzini, Laura, Suter, Christian

A travers plusieurs comparaisons entre différents groupes de la population (Suisses et non-Suisses, hommes et femmes, jeunes et matures), cette contribution vise à évaluer l’intensité de la ségrégation sur le marché du travail au niveau cantonal, régional et national. Les résultats mettent en évidence les transformations sur le marché du travail neuchâtelois dans une perspective interrégionale en lien avec les changements des inégalités sociales et économiques.