Joint Dynamics of Legal and Economic Integration in the European Union

We evaluate the causal linkages between the economic and legal integration process that has characterised the formation of the European Union. Specifically, using the frequency of national references for preliminary rulings sent to the European Court of Justice as a measure of legal integration we investigate its joint dynamics with the expansion of intra-EU trade over the 1960–1998 time period. Our objective is to formally test whether any such linkages exist and the direction within which they have operated.     

Distributive Gerechtigkeit in der Familie

To evaluate the normative potential for support in the family, determinants of the familial justice ideologies collectivism and individualism are analysed, using the German data of the International Social Justice Project (ISJP) 2006. For this purpose, the framing approach for the explanation of prosocial behaviour, which integrates the sociological concepts socialisation and social structure as well as the psychological concept personality, is adapted. The empirical findings show that unconditional normative solidarity in form of familial collectivism is widespread in Germany. However, a considerable part of collectivistic value orientation can be attributed to individual and structural characteristics which represent a less stable basis than socialisational factors. As expected, familial individualism is mainly determined by structural effects. The consideration of personality traits in form of the big five causes a substantial improvement of the models. This supports the use of integrative approaches in the research of attitudes.