LAUSR

ABSTRACT A core doctrine of early socialist movements was complete state ownership of the means of production. In this paper the extent to which Europeans believe that there should be more or less state ownership of business is explored using three waves of the European Social Value Survey from 1990 to 2010. Using generational categories, we examine the trends in attitudes in the context of the main positions in the political spectrum from socialism to conservatism in the twentieth century in ten European countries. Results show little appetite for either increased state ownership or increased private ownership of business across the four generations of respondents. On the left of the ideological spectrum there appears to be a fading belief that the state should demand complete or even partial ownership of the means of production.