Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0355/03551.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 37KB | 579 lines

$Unique_ID{COW03551}
$Pretitle{442}
$Title{Switzerland
3. Life in Switzerland, Part 1}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Rene Levy}
$Affiliation{Arts Coucil of Switzerland}
$Subject{switzerland
social
since
swiss
important
number
income
workers
life
population}
$Date{1986}
$Log{Table 2.*0355101.tab
Table 3.*0355102.tab
Table 4.*0355103.tab
Table 5.*0355104.tab
}
Country:     Switzerland
Book:        The Social Structure of Switzerland Outline of a Society
Author:      Rene Levy
Affiliation: Arts Coucil of Switzerland
Date:        1986

3. Life in Switzerland, Part 1

a) Well-Being and Social Assets

1. The Material and Spiritual Standard of Living

     The most important factors which led us to the conclusion that
Switzerland holds a leading position in the international scene were various
indications of material wealth. However, people do not measure their
well-being from this point of view alone, but also according to whether they
feel secure, whether they get on well with the people around them, whether
they have come to terms with life and consider it has a meaning for them. Thus
if one chooses only a few criteria by which to judge the standard of living,
and this is in fact the only method, the result will always be arbitrary to a
certain extent, even if there are good reasons for the selection made. If one
extends the train of thought taken up in the first chapter one can say that
there are definable social conditions which are an important prerequisite for
contentment and well-being. To a very great extent the conditions are laid
down by the material and spiritual "goods" which are available. In this
context "goods" can be taken to mean all those things people use to improve or
ensure their well-being and which they also use as a yardstick to measure
their own prosperity and social position.

     Consequently one can say that in Switzerland, as in other western
industrialised countries, three elements have an especially important effect
on one's standard of living, because many other factors depend on them: the
education a person receives; his type of employment, which is available to him
partly through the education he has received; his income, which depends on his
employment and which, in a market economy situation, is one of his most
important means of obtaining further elements to improve his own well-being
and standard of living. There are many other factors involved which determine
the individual's position in society as well as the possibilities open to him
to achieve the standard of living he desires. These factors include a person's
position in other hierarchical contexts, such as in politics or in the
military. The quality of life in the stricter, spiritual sense, i.e. psychic
and social well-being, contrasts to a certain extent with social hierarchies
because the latter create pressures and clashes which conflict with the
realisation of spiritual aims. It is one of the contradictions existing in
many other countries as well as in Switzerland, that precisely those aspects
of the quality of life which cannot be included in material well-being or a
higher social status are more easily available to the more privileged in the
social hierarchy.

     Let us first establish the two most common conclusions arising from a
study of the distribution of social assets in Switzerland since they are of
major importance in describing the social structure of the country:

     1. The level of general prosperity and availability of consumer goods is
high, as has already been demonstrated by international comparison.

     2. This wealth, however, and the various social assets are unequally
distributed among the population.

     The present situation is described in detail below.

     Expenditure on schools and education is shared between the boroughs, the
cantons and the federal state according to the level concerned, the
decision-making lying mainly with the cantons, in accordance with the
principles of federalism.

2. The Distribution of Social Assets in Switzerland

     Education: A qualification allowing the holder to pursue a certain
activity, especially a profession, can be obtained through practical
experience or formal training. In Switzerland technical training is given "on
the job" to a much greater extent than in other western industrialised
countries. An apprenticeship is the gateway to a career for the majority of
males (approximately 70%) and a much smaller but growing proportion of females
(today around 35%). Nevertheless, schooling in the strictest sense has become
much more important than personal experience over the past few decades. The
diploma a child leaves school with indicates two different things: first of
all, the knowledge he has gained, i.e. the child's share of the culture to
which he belongs and secondly his ability to understand the world in which he
is living. Apart from the aspect of content, education also has a formal side:
the level attained represents more or less the social right of recognition and
a certain professional rank. Thus education is also in a special sense a
social asset in that to a certain extent it grants access to various rungs of
other social ladders. It remains to be seen how effective it is in reality. In
1980 the level of schooling among the total population of Switzerland was as
follows:

[See Table 2.: Level of Schooling (population of 15 and more, 1980)]

     Since 1960 the number of students enrolled at the highest institutions of
formal education, the universities and polytechnics, has increased
considerably. In 1960 there were 368 students for every 100,000 inhabitants
and only 20 years later this number had risen to 969. At the same time the
proportion of foreign students fell from 33% to 19%, which means that the rise
in the number of people attending universities and polytechnics can be
considered as a sign that they are opening their doors to a broader public. It
should, however, also be noted that in some fields the average length of study
has increased slightly, thus exaggerating the increase in the number of
students to a certain extent. It appears that university entrance has not
become more popular, that is, access is not easier for young people from less
privileged families than it was formerly, since the number of students from
working-class backgrounds has increased only very slightly and the number of
students receiving grants has not risen at all in the past few years. The
number of students who receive some financial support at least during part of
their studies decreased from 30% in 1974 to 25% in 1979. All in all,
therefore, education has been extended in Switzerland, although access to the
various levels of education according to social background has not changed.

     The following table shows to what extent the educational level a person
has attained affects the professional rank he reaches:

[See Table 3.: Breakdown of Professional Rank by educational level (gainfully
employed population, 1980)]

     The following relationships can be noted from this table:

     a) A person who has only received the compulsory minimum of schooling has
a rather limited chance of reaching a white collar position.

     b) A slightly higher educational level increases considerably the
possibilities to move into ranks of white collar occupations.

     c) A person who has received a higher level of education or even attended
a vocational training school has easy access to an office job, maybe even at
management level, although jobs at director level will still be more or less
out of reach for him.

     d) With a degree, however, one can be fairly sure of getting a top job.
This may be one of the reasons why the alternative of being professionally
self-employed is taken up very rarely in this situation.

     This table does not, of course, give any detailed information concerning
individual "rise and fall", which can vary according to age. Nevertheless it
shows that despite the not inconsiderable effects of other factors, the