Linguistic (In)Equalities and Political Opinions: Comparative Study of European Multilingual Democracies

As the modern political landscape grows increasingly fractionalised, language remains a visible line of inequality and disagreement across the globe. It is no exception in European multilingual democracies, where linguistic identity structures everyday communication, facilitates access to education and public institutions, and often defines the political climate. Yet the political impact of linguistic identity is not constant. In some contexts, linguistic divisions remain muted; in others, membership in a language group may become a tangible source of inequality that influences political opinions and ideological positioning.
This paper examines when and under which conditions differences in language official status influence political attitudes at the individual level. It advances two expectations. First, when one language holds official recognition while others do not, such unequal status may make linguistic identity more salient in shaping political opinions. Second, during periods of political activity, such as elections or language reforms, linguistic differences are likely to gain greater visibility and influence, becoming more strongly reflected in political opinions.
Empirically, the study relies on a newly harmonised dataset of forty Eurobarometer waves (2004–2024). It examines whether official recognition of language conditions the link between linguistic identity and individual political opinions, including trust in institutions, satisfaction with democracy, and left-right orientation. The study compares Western European states – Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland – which recognise multiple languages, with Eastern European cases such as Latvia and Estonia, where the second most spoken language lacks official status. To capture contextual activation, the paper further focuses on the case of Latvia, employing a difference-in-difference design to assess how language reforms affect political attitudes among linguistic minorities. These reforms, designed to promote integration, may heighten feelings of inequality and make language more visible in political attitudes.
By situating the official status of language as an institutional mechanism that may condition how individuals shape their political opinions, the study contributes to debates on ethnic cleavages, minority inclusion, and the resilience of multiethnic democracies, while offering a systematic quantitative framework for analysing the political salience of linguistic identities.