Changing preferences towards redistribution: How deliberation shapes welfare attitudes

Abstract

The article departs from the argument that research on welfare attitudes is, so far, dominated by large-scale survey-studies, which allow for generalizable insights into citizens' preferences and evaluations, but are necessarily limited in their ability to capture the dynamic and contextual aspects of attitude formation. In order to broaden the horizon of welfare attitudes' research, this article introduces a new qualitative method, namely deliberative forums. In these large group discussions-originally developed for participatory decision-making-attitudes, opinions, and preferences are core aspects of the deliberation process, and the article argues that by observing deliberation, we can observe attitude construction "in vivo". The evidence from a two-day German deliberation event illustrates in an exploratory manner how information, reasoning, and group processes can influence people's evaluations and expressed policy preferences with regard to redistribution. By linking participants' answers from a survey before and after the event to their statements during the discussions, the article not only shows that the preferences for redistribution people expressed in the survey answers are often higher after the deliberative event, but also seeks to make sense of attitudinal dynamics on the basis of the qualitative material by pointing towards the role of information, reasoning, and group processes.

The Two Faces of Support for Redistribution in Colombia: Taxing the Wealthy or Assisting People in Need

“…Increasing people's knowledge about how the redistributive system works and how it benefits society as a whole can be a promising avenue for future research and applications. For instance, despite people's reluctance to taxes, when they understood how they contribute to the well-being of the whole society, they were willing to change their minds and support more such policies (Zimmermann et al, 2018 ). Therefore, increasing people's awareness of inequality and understanding the mechanisms to deal with it can be a potential way to improve people's attitudes toward redistribution.…”

“…As such, people in the United States became less supportive of redistribution when they attributed African American physical features and negative stereotypes to the recipients of welfare programs (Brown-Iannuzzi et al, 2017 ). On the contrary, people can increase their support for redistribution when they engage in deliberations that raise awareness of the benefits of such policies for all in society and when they realize the collective responsibility to contribute to the social good (Zimmermann et al, 2018 ). These findings suggest that support for redistribution varies largely depending on specific components on which people are focusing (e.g., beneficiaries, contributors, policies, etc.).…”

Who should care? Exploring the views and experiences of individuals in negotiating solutions for health security

“…Research on welfare attitudes is, so far, dominated by large-scale quantitative examinations, which “allow for generalisable insights into citizens' preferences and evaluations but are necessarily limited in their ability to capture the dynamic and contextual aspects of attitude” (Zimmerman et al , 2018, p. 1). For this reason, I attempted to develop welfare attitude research based on a qualitative analysis, capturing individuals' real-life stories in coping with insecurity, such as the strategies to reduce the risk and seek protection and ways of utilising a welfare institution(s) to obtain protection.…”

The contribution of deliberative forums to studying welfare state attitudes: A United Kingdom study

“…In this article we do not have sufficient space to consider all contributions and strengths of the democratic forum approaches, such as that pertaining to how people respond to different types of information, and the group dynamics and attitude formation that can be observed through the data (see Zimmerman & Heuer, ). We focus here on the first three strengths, which relate to allowing for a better understanding how the population “frame” their perceptions of the welfare state.…”