Rethinking Part-Time Outsiders’ Risks and Welfare Attitudes

Abstract

The growth of atypical work has created a divide between insiders, with safe jobs, and outsiders, in fixed-term, part-time, and/or precarious work situations. Due to higher economic risk, outsiders support compensating social policies more than insiders. However, the same consistency has not been found in the attitudes of part-time outsiders. Consequently, this article suggests an expansion from the work-nexus to the care-nexus of welfare when examining these outsiders’ political behavior. Findings from a structural equation framework using Norwegian data (N = 2,254) from 2022 show that part-time outsiders experience higher risk of partner dependency, making them more likely to support optional familialism in family policy. As part-time work is strongly feminized, these findings have important implications for gender equality in the private and public spheres. Additionally, the results call for future research on insider/outsider dynamics to take both the work-nexus and care-nexus of the welfare state into account.