Welfare Attitudes over time of V4-, Northern- and Western European countries in ESS Round 4 and Round 8 data

Ivana Piterová,Jozef Výrost

doi:10.17356/ieejsp.v5i1.483

Abstract

Welfare attitudes are a complex and multidimensional phenomenon. Social solidarity in the sense of interdependence is understood as the first dimension of welfare attitudes, while differentiation – in terms of how people usually make a distinction between groups that results in their attitude about whom to support – is understood as the second dimension. According to their preferred level of social solidarity and social differentiation, four clusters of people can be identified which represent four distinct types of welfare attitudes: social democratic, liberal, conservative, and radical. The aim of this paper is to analyse ESS fourth- (2008) and eighth-round data (2016) to compare three groups of countries: the Visegrad Group, represented by Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary; Northern Europe, represented by Norway, Sweden and Finland; and Western Europe, represented by Germany, France, and the UK, in terms of the level of social solidarity and social differentiation. Based on ESS data we outline that the differences in the welfare attitudes of V4, Western-, and Northern European countries are not so obvious. However, the analysis of the four types of welfare attitudes reveals some significant differences in interpersonal and institutional trust and basic human values, the description of which falls within the scope of this paper

Highlights

Welfare states vary regarding their level of solidarity, range of government responsibilities, universality of benefits, etc
We were interested in possible changes in the level of social solidarity and social differentiation in the three groups of countries over time, or more precisely, between rounds
The above analysis has shown that the three groups of countries differ in terms of welfare attitudes to a minimal extent

Summary

Introduction

Welfare states vary regarding their level of solidarity, range of government responsibilities, universality of benefits, etc. If an analysis of welfare attitudes is conducted in the form of a comparison of similar groups of countries, differences might not be easy to distinguish due to difficulties with categorization. In this paper we address a different perspective represented by types of attitude to welfare, which are to a certain extent influenced by welfare regimes. Analyses provided by Svallfors (1997) and Výrost (2010) have shown the existence of group patterns that are very similar between countries, despite the fact that people within such countries are influenced by their own culture, history, and actual political situation, etc. Four different types of attitude may be identified within each country regardless of welfare regime. The former have something in common with representatives of the same attitudinal types in other countries

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Discussion

Conclusion