LIVEWHAT · Living with Hard Times: How European Citizens Deal with Economic Crises and Their Social and Political Consequences

The proposed research deals with citizens’ reactions to economic crises and their social and political consequences. It examines in particular the ways in which European citizens have reacted to the crisis that, at different degree of intensity in different countries, struck Europe since 2008, but also how they deal with economic crises and their consequences more generally. We examine both individual and collective responses by citizens, both the “private” and the “public” dimensions of such responses, and both political and non-political responses. In addition, while the focus of the research is on citizens’ responses, we also examine policy responses so as to have a baseline for assessing citizens’ reactions to crises. The project has three main objectives: (1) to provide systematic evidence of the ways in which European citizens react to economic crises and their social and political consequences, both individually and collectively; (2) to advance knowledge on the connections between individual factors, contextual factors, and the ways in which European citizens react to economic crises and their social and political consequences; and (3) to suggest a number of good practices as to how to deal with economic crises, both at the social and political level, through which their negative consequences on European citizens can be avoided or limited. The project’s objectives are addressed by means of six main types of data and methods: (1) the creation of a cross-national comparative dataset on economic, social, and political indicators; (2) an analysis of policy responses to crises; (3) an analysis of collective responses to crises in the public domain; (4) an analysis of individual responses to crises by private citizens; (5) experiments designed to assess causal effects of different dimensions of crises on citizens’ attitudes and behaviors; and (6) an analysis of alternative forms of resilience in times of crisis.