Public Attitudes toward Welfare State Policies: A Comparative Analysis of 24 Nations

Abstract

The paper investigates public attitudes toward welfare state policies as a result of both situational, i.e. unemployment, and ideological factors, i.e. egalitarian ideology, at both the individual and national level. The dependent variables are public support for the sick and the old as well as for the unemployed as target beneficiaries of welfare state policies. Data from the ISSP-study «Role of government» are analyzed using a multi-level regression technique. Findings indicate that the nation level is important in shaping public attitudes toward welfare state policies in industrialized nations, and that both situational and ideological factors play a role. Apparently, various nations generate different public beliefs about national social problems and about the relationship between individuals, the state and other institutions. Eventually, these understandings and beliefs influence popular attitudes regarding what kind of policies the state should pursue, and who should benefit.

Reforming Welfare States

“…This result is in line with numerous previous studies (e.g. Blekesaune and Quadagno, 2003;Alesina and Giuliano, 2009;Reeskens, Meulemans and van Oorschot, 2012).…”

“…Research on public opinion formation shows that, aside from narrow individual self-interest, Welfare State preferences are usually shaped by relatively stable cultural and social norms, conventions, moral values or personal traits -in short, by informal institutions (e.g. Blekesaune and Quadagno, 2003;Bénabou and Tirole, 2006;Alesina and Giuliano, 2009;Margalit, 2013). Highly persistent core beliefs could hence be at the heart of explanations for a lack of willingness to introduce fundamental Welfare State reforms.…”

“…Feldman, 2003), and a growing number of contributions focus on determinants of individual and collective attitudes toward redistribution (e.g. Fong, 2001;Corneo and Grüner, 2002;Blekesaune and Quadagno, 2003;Bénabou and Tirole, 2006;Alesina and Giuliano, 2009;Aghion et al, 2010;Dallinger, 2010;Jaeger, 2013;Margalit, 2013). Attitudes certainly depend on individual self-interest, but research clearly reveals that political and economic preferences are also shaped by cultural and social norms, conventions, moral values, codes of behavior and personal traits (e.g., Feldman, 1988;Feldman and Steenbergen, 2001;Guiso, Sapienza, and Zingales, 2006;Luttmer and Singhal, 2011).…”

Voters’ commitment problem and reforms in welfare programs

“…Related, Van Groezen et al (2009) find that a preference for the status quo induces voters, again including the median one, to be wary of pension reforms, even if these might improve their financial position in the longer term. Other scholars find similar preferences as well for welfare programs other than pensions (e.g., Blekesaune and Quadagno 2003;Brooks and Manza 2007). In general, reform typically means that the median voter incurs direct, (almost) immediate costs while the possible benefits are dispersed and often arise only in the long(er) run.…”

Political Preferences and the Aging of Populations

“…Some more empirical research has been conducted by sociologists. Many of these studies, however, are rather broad investigations of individuals' attitudes towards welfare state policies (e.g., Blekesaune and Quadagno (2003)) that use age only as a control variable without providing much theoretical grounding. The overall evidence has been rather mixed, casting doubt on a specific age effect.…”