**6. Subjective attitudes**

In a climate of economic crisis like this, the indices of satisfaction, loyalty and labour cohesion tend, as is expected, to decrease. In the Portuguese case, this has actually happened. As is stated in the 2011 report of the National Observatory for Human Resources (ONRH), from 2009 to 2010 the level of satisfaction of Portuguese workers dropped 1,2%, their loyalty to the company they worked for fell 1,3%, and the involvement of employees with organisations fell 0,8%. Of the 12 indices evaluated by ONRH, all decreased in relation to 2009. The problem of security has been pointed to as the principal concern of Portuguese workers. In a recent international study, Skidmore and Bound (2008) analyse indices such as: (i) the ability of the worker to influence working conditions (working environment); (ii) worker autonomy; (iii) creativity in the workplace, and they found that the Iberian countries (Portugal, Spain) and others in the south of Europe contrasted significantly with countries in the north of Europe. Considering the responses to these indicators, the indices for well-being and interpersonal confidence were found to be very low (above all in the case of Portugal) in addition to showing a close correlation with democracy in the workplace and with mechanisms of dialogue and participation (also very low).

Other studies have attempted to measure the happiness of citizens based on social psychology models (Easterlin, 2001 and 2005; Veernhoven & Hagerty, 2006; Veernhoven, 2011). A recent study (conducted by Rui Brites da Silva) showed that, in terms of the index of subjective well-being, the Portuguese occupy a position in the second half of the table. In Veernhoven's *ranking* for the period 2000-2009, Portugal is in 79th place (with 5.7 points on a

<sup>9</sup> In the 3rd quarter of 2010, there were nearly 340,000 long-term unemployed in Portugal (INE, 2010).

Labour Relations and Social Movements in the 21st Century 267

government is only exceeded when treating the degree of confidence in politicians. In this case, totalling up the negative figures (between 0 and 4 on the scale), for 2004 we obtain 76.6% and 81.2% for 2008, in addition to the fact that the negative results are significantly higher in Portugal than the average for the other countries. It can also be noted, with regard to the little confidence in the "political class", that the indicator "no confidence whatsoever" in 2002 obtained 17.2% of responses (as opposed to an average of 11.8% in other countries), rising to 25.3%, 25.7% and 29.4% respectively in 2004, 2006 and 2008, therefore remaining about 10% above the average. It can be noted that this low confidence (in government and politicians) also extends to social confidence (interpersonal and in the goodwill of others) and institutional issues (national parliament). As referred to in a comparative study in the European context, the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) and Switzerland, express the highest levels of confidence on these two levels, whilst Portugal, Spain and Eastern European countries (notably Poland, Hungary and Slovenia) express the

opposite, demonstrating very low levels of confidence (Correia Silva, 2011: 51-57).

The indicators above clearly show the seriousness of the social situation in European countries. The loss of trust in the system represents a threat to social cohesion and to stability which, in spite of everything, has characterised Western democracies since the end of the Second World War. All the changes that have taken place in the area of the economy in the last few decades have been developed in order to hamper or reverse the old European social model, which in the past was deemed irreversible and an example for other continents to follow. However, the most recent trends appear to surprise even the most sceptical, given the magnitude of the problems now emerging. One of the reasons that the point we have reached is so worrying is because, once again, the issue of labour and the access to employment are again at the centre of controversy and social conflict. In the last fifty years, not only have Western economies and systems of employment become tertiary but the standardised and stable forms of professional practice have also been dismantled or are in the process of being so, as we have previously seen. It can be said that with the stagnation of industrial production and the consolidation of Fordism (in the private and public sectors) the old labour conflict has become "depoliticised" and has gradually become a "manageable" factor in the demanding productive sphere. In a certain sense, we have witnessed a process of institutionalisation in which dialogue and negotiation have substituted the struggle of the working class and trade unions, weakening therefore the dynamic of the trade union as a *movement*. Although it would be an exaggeration to suggest that the battles of trade unionism disappeared in order to give their leaders a greater role and more flexibility to negotiate, the fact is that trade unionism, to a large extent, became bureaucratic, "softer" and more "compliant" as its foundations of support converted from traditional manual workers to the new middle "service class" (Goldthorpe). It is in this sense that we can assert that trade union action became "depoliticised" so as to give a role to "social concertation" and to the corporative spirit. Yet this tendency was found to be on the

If one can confirm that the socio-occupational situation is becoming increasingly worse (on both the objective and subjective levels), it can be said that discontentment will increase to

**7. Precariousness and new social movements (NSMs)** 

verge of saturation point (Estanque and Costa, 2011).

scale from 0 to 10) among 149 countries, with the same number of points as Belarus, Djibouti, Egypt, Mongolia, Nigeria and Romania. The first places are occupied by Costa Rica (1st, with 8.5 points on the same scale), Demark (2nd), Iceland (3rd), Canada (4th), and Finland (5th). Furthermore, this study, which was not only supported by these indicators but also by the report of the "Stiglitz Comission"10 presents results of the subjective wellbeing index, thereby attempting to combine both the subjective and objective dimensions of happiness. Despite its limitations, the criteria used show a significant consistency, with the subjective evaluation of those questioned being confirmed in the data of the *Europen Social Survey* (ESS). In addition, it was possible, based on these findings, to conclude that the subjective well-being of the Portuguese decreased when moving from north to the south of the country, that the indices of happiness are higher in men than they are in women, and that the lowest indices of well-being are to be found in the older age groups, especially in females (Silva, 2011: 200-205).

To these data can be added others, conducted by various international bodies, to illustrate the heightened climate of mistrust on the part of citizens towards institutions, the functioning of the political system, and who express a general feeling of scepticism about the democratic system in such fundamental areas such as governance, the economic situation, and the system of justice. This scepticism is also expressed in their opinions about the ability of the present leadership and the "political elite" in general, demonstrating once again the growing gap between citizens and political life and the risk this represents for the representative democracy. The results of the (ESS) aimed at evaluating the degree of satisfaction of citizens (using a scale from 0 = extremely satisfied to 10 = extremely dissatisfied) throughout the first decade of this century. The Portuguese showed themselves to be moderately satisfied with their life conditions, but with percentages clearly below the average of EU countries, results that were more notable when compared to those of northern Europe (Vala *et al.,* 2010). As for the economic situation of the country, the levels of dissatisfaction are clearly more apparent, with a tendency to increase as the successive results of the four questionnaires applied over the ten-year period were collected.

As for the degree of satisfaction in relation to the way the government is performing, results fluctuate somewhat in accordance with political cycles (with higher indices of dissatisfaction in 2002 and 2008), but which, generally speaking, point to negative evaluations well above the EU average, with the total of negative percentages (between 0 and 4) either coming close to or exceeding 50%, and rising to 64,2% in 2004 and 66,6% in 2008. This mistrust of the

<sup>10</sup> In fact this commission was constituted, apart from Joseph Stiglitz, by Amartya Sen and J.P. Fitoussi and other academics and specialists, a group promoted by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, with the team in its first report having suggested new initiatives and criteria to evaluate economic performance, such as: "- using other indicators apart from GNP in national expenditure; - verifying the performance of basic sectors like health and education; - considering domestic activities and taking into account the life patterns of people; - adding information about wealth distribution and income; including activities outside the market. An innovation proposed by the report is the net and not gross evaluation of economic activities, in a way that allows the extraction of natural resources, the environmental impacts caused by the production or use of *stocks* to be taken into account". In: site "Sustainable planet", accessed on 7/09/2011:

http://planetasustentavel.abril.com.br/noticia/desenvolvimento/comissao-stiglitz-sen-fitoussi-pib-489751.shtml

scale from 0 to 10) among 149 countries, with the same number of points as Belarus, Djibouti, Egypt, Mongolia, Nigeria and Romania. The first places are occupied by Costa Rica (1st, with 8.5 points on the same scale), Demark (2nd), Iceland (3rd), Canada (4th), and Finland (5th). Furthermore, this study, which was not only supported by these indicators but also by the report of the "Stiglitz Comission"10 presents results of the subjective wellbeing index, thereby attempting to combine both the subjective and objective dimensions of happiness. Despite its limitations, the criteria used show a significant consistency, with the subjective evaluation of those questioned being confirmed in the data of the *Europen Social Survey* (ESS). In addition, it was possible, based on these findings, to conclude that the subjective well-being of the Portuguese decreased when moving from north to the south of the country, that the indices of happiness are higher in men than they are in women, and that the lowest indices of well-being are to be found in the older age groups, especially in

To these data can be added others, conducted by various international bodies, to illustrate the heightened climate of mistrust on the part of citizens towards institutions, the functioning of the political system, and who express a general feeling of scepticism about the democratic system in such fundamental areas such as governance, the economic situation, and the system of justice. This scepticism is also expressed in their opinions about the ability of the present leadership and the "political elite" in general, demonstrating once again the growing gap between citizens and political life and the risk this represents for the representative democracy. The results of the (ESS) aimed at evaluating the degree of satisfaction of citizens (using a scale from 0 = extremely satisfied to 10 = extremely dissatisfied) throughout the first decade of this century. The Portuguese showed themselves to be moderately satisfied with their life conditions, but with percentages clearly below the average of EU countries, results that were more notable when compared to those of northern Europe (Vala *et al.,* 2010). As for the economic situation of the country, the levels of dissatisfaction are clearly more apparent, with a tendency to increase as the successive

results of the four questionnaires applied over the ten-year period were collected.

As for the degree of satisfaction in relation to the way the government is performing, results fluctuate somewhat in accordance with political cycles (with higher indices of dissatisfaction in 2002 and 2008), but which, generally speaking, point to negative evaluations well above the EU average, with the total of negative percentages (between 0 and 4) either coming close to or exceeding 50%, and rising to 64,2% in 2004 and 66,6% in 2008. This mistrust of the

10 In fact this commission was constituted, apart from Joseph Stiglitz, by Amartya Sen and J.P. Fitoussi and other academics and specialists, a group promoted by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, with the team in its first report having suggested new initiatives and criteria to evaluate economic performance, such as: "- using other indicators apart from GNP in national expenditure; - verifying the performance of basic sectors like health and education; - considering domestic activities and taking into account the life patterns of people; - adding information about wealth distribution and income; including activities outside the market. An innovation proposed by the report is the net and not gross evaluation of economic activities, in a way that allows the extraction of natural resources, the environmental impacts caused by the production or use of *stocks* to be taken into account". In: site

http://planetasustentavel.abril.com.br/noticia/desenvolvimento/comissao-stiglitz-sen-fitoussi-pib-

females (Silva, 2011: 200-205).

"Sustainable planet", accessed on 7/09/2011:

489751.shtml

government is only exceeded when treating the degree of confidence in politicians. In this case, totalling up the negative figures (between 0 and 4 on the scale), for 2004 we obtain 76.6% and 81.2% for 2008, in addition to the fact that the negative results are significantly higher in Portugal than the average for the other countries. It can also be noted, with regard to the little confidence in the "political class", that the indicator "no confidence whatsoever" in 2002 obtained 17.2% of responses (as opposed to an average of 11.8% in other countries), rising to 25.3%, 25.7% and 29.4% respectively in 2004, 2006 and 2008, therefore remaining about 10% above the average. It can be noted that this low confidence (in government and politicians) also extends to social confidence (interpersonal and in the goodwill of others) and institutional issues (national parliament). As referred to in a comparative study in the European context, the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) and Switzerland, express the highest levels of confidence on these two levels, whilst Portugal, Spain and Eastern European countries (notably Poland, Hungary and Slovenia) express the opposite, demonstrating very low levels of confidence (Correia Silva, 2011: 51-57).
