Public Euroscepticism Revisited: The Impact of Inequality and Injustice

Most of the literature on public opinion towards European integration focuses on three approaches in explaining individual variation in support; economic self-interest, identity and cue-taking theory. So far, experiences and perceptions of justice and fairness have not been taken into account. Nevertheless, over the past decades, European welfare states have witnessed rising inequalities. As a result, people with stronger perceptions of injustice about the distribution of resources feel more threatened by social change and therefore oppose European integration to a larger extent. To contribute to this debate, this paper focusses on whether and under which conditions perceived earnings injustice can constitute an additional source of Euroscepticism. In doing so, the paper distinguishes between individual and group earnings injustice and analyses to what extent their effect is mediated by the national context. One can expect that in more unequal societies, perceptions of injustice are more effectively mobilized as a source of Euroscepticism, as European integration might be perceived as a catalyst of rising inequality. Hypotheses are tested using data of the European Social Survey.