Attitudes among the Finnish population towards the Nordic welfare state in 2009

Abstract

There have been increasing signs of the weakening of universalism in the Nordic welfare system. While earlier research has mainly concentrated on general attitudes towards the welfare state, we aim to examine whether general attitudes and attitudes specific to the organization and funding of services form separate dimensions, as well as to explore the background factors connected to these attitudes. The data comes from a population-based survey ‘Welfare and services in Finland’ in 2009. The survey had 1824 respondents (response rate: 59%). Welfare state attitudes were examined using structural equation modelling, while linear regression analyses were used to examine the associations between background variables and attitudes. In addition to general welfare attitudes, three dimensions of specific attitudes were found. Attitudes concerning the public organization of services and those concerning the tax-based funding of services formed separate dimensions. Both were strongly related to general welfare attitudes. However, attitudes towards private services formed a further dimension. Both general and specific attitudes to the welfare state were affected by sociodemographic factors that can be seen to influence the need for services. The results of the study suggest that the population still seems to want to maintain the most important features of the Nordic welfare state.