Social cohesion in Switzerland viewed negatively
The Swiss population's assessment of the current cohesion of society is largely negative. The situation has deteriorated compared to when respondents were younger, according to a study by the University of Lucerne.
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
The representative survey of 1,104 people, conducted by the Center for Religion, Economics and Politics (ZRWP) at the University of Lucerne, found that only just under 40% of the Swiss population rate the current social cohesion in Switzerland as positive.
A quarter of respondents perceive cohesion as “neither bad nor good”, and a third rate it negatively. The focus was on the subjective assessment of current cohesion compared to the past.
+ Immigration polarises Swiss opinions particularly strongly
When asked how they perceived social cohesion during their own youth, respondents were much more positive. The focus of the answers here was on the categories “rather good” and “good”.
According to the authors, the perceived deterioration is therefore considerable. While the majority of respondents rated social cohesion as “good” in the past, indifferent and poor ratings predominate in the present.
Cohesion under pressure
“The results of our pilot study indicate that social cohesion in Switzerland is under pressure,” notes Antonius Liedhegener, co-author of this research with Anastas Odermatt, who was quoted in a press release issued by the university on Friday.
+ More solidarity among the Swiss, according to a survey
Furthermore, these perceptions are largely independent of traditional socio-demographic factors such as age, gender or level of education. Current and past cohesion is always rated very similarly across all social classes. It is therefore a matter of widespread public opinion.
This pilot survey is a first step on the way to a larger study on this topic planned by the ZRWP. The aim is to determine the background to social cohesion and possible strategies for promoting it in Switzerland in the medium term.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.