Tekijät

• Centre for Finnish Business and Policy Studies (EVA)
• Yhdyskuntatutkimus

Asiasanat

European Community, European Union, European integration, economic recession, intergroup conflict, political power, social conflict

Sisällön kuvaus

The survey focused on Finland's membership in the European Community, the country's economic recession, social conflicts between different groups, and political influence of certain groups and institutions. Finland had applied for the EC membership in March 1992, and many questions explored issues connected to the membership, membership negotiations, and the impact of the membership. The respondents were also asked how interested they were in issues connected to the EC and European integration, and how well informed of these issues they were. Opinions on the likelihood of Finland becoming an EC member state were charted. One topic pertained to the process of deepening European integration, and how negatively or positively the respondents viewed the possibility that Finland would participate in common foreign policy, common security and defence policy, single European currency, etc. The survey studied perceptions of the impact the EC membership would have on Finland (e.g. on standard of living, employment, business conditions, interest rate, wage level, national sovereignty).

One theme pertained to causes of and reasons behind the economic recession. Views were also probed on whether certain bodies and groups (trade unions, Parliament, the media, banks, the police, political parties, universities, etc.) held too little or too much power in the society. Further, the respondents were asked whether there were conflicts, and how strong, between various groups (e.g. the rich vs. the poor, the media vs. decision-makers, well-educated vs. poorly educated, employers vs. employees, young people vs. the elderly) in Finland.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age group, size of municipality, province of residence, basic and vocational education, economic activity, employment sector, and which political party R would vote for if the parliamentary elections were held at that time.