cover image: Towards the future of Europe: Social factors shaping optimism and pessimism among citizens

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Towards the future of Europe: Social factors shaping optimism and pessimism among citizens

16 Sep 2021

For more than a decade, uncertainty about the future in most parts of the EU has been growing. Many people believe society is in decline and this has given rise to a general sense of pessimism. Is there a link between the rising popularity of anti-establishment parties and increasing pessimism? These negative sentiments could adversely affect the political climate within individual Member States and also undermine the legitimacy of the European project. This report identifies the key drivers of people’s perceptions about the future and explores whether optimists and pessimists differ in their socioeconomic, cultural and political characteristics. To examine the extent to which optimists and pessimists behave and feel differently, the report looks at their socioeconomic and sociopolitical profiles. Finally, it explores how the level of optimism differs in the Member States in relation to country context. The analyses use data from before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the results demonstrate the importance of monitoring how people’s feelings about the future evolve during the recovery from the crisis.
inequality trust living conditions quality of life subjective well-being living conditions and quality of life quality of society european pillar of social rights

Authors

Bericat, Eduardo, Eurofound

Catalogue no
TJ-03-21-369-EN-N
Cite this publication
Eurofound (2021), Towards the future of Europe: Social factors shaping optimism and pessimism among citizens , Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.2806/458259
ISBN
978-92-897-2203-2
Number of pages
70
Permalink
eurofound.link/ef21004
Published in
Ireland
Reference no
EF21004

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