Welfare Attitudes Research Articles

COVID‐19 Labor Market Protection and Support for the Welfare State: Job Retention Versus Job Loss in Four European Countries

ABSTRACTThe COVID‐19 pandemic presents a natural setting to study how labor market protection policies may influence welfare attitudes because while lockdowns and economic recession threatened millions of jobs, job retention schemes shielded many workers from unemployment. We investigate support for unemployment protection and the unemployed among people active in the labor force and participating in the Mannheim Corona Study in Germany, Coping with COVID‐19 in France, ResPOnsE in Italy, and the British Social Attitudes survey in Great Britain. Two‐way fixed effects analyses on the German data show that there was a general increase in respondents' support over the onset of the pandemic and that while job loss significantly boosted support, there was little attitudinal difference between those who experienced job retention and those who continued working. We confirm these patterns with cross‐sectional analyses in all four countries, providing comparative insight into attitudes across the largest European economies. Unemployment is materially similar to job retention, but because it is associated with higher support, we contend that nonmaterial factors such as risk perceptions may be consequential in influencing preference changes when individuals lose their jobs.

Intergenerational cohabitation and welfare attitudes among European young adults

This article explores the relationship between intergenerational cohabitation and welfare attitudes focusing on the perspective of cohabiting adult children in Europe. Cohabitation constitutes a common support arrangement for young adults who face labour market risk, reducing their need for state-based welfare, but might also lead to feelings of frustration when the dependency clashes with social norms, increasing the incentives to demand policies that enable emancipation. Using data from the 8th wave of the European Social Survey, I fit ordered logistic models for a sample of 6895 young adults in 16 European countries, focusing on attitudes towards unemployment benefits and basic income. Results indicate that the link between labour market risk and attitudes is weaker when young adults live with their parents. Moreover, living with parents is associated with higher demand for basic income schemes, but this effect is weaker in countries where cohabitation constitutes a common support arrangement. These findings highlight the relevance of considering the household context when studying the link between labour market risk and welfare attitudes, and suggest that norms regarding the division of responsibilities between families and the state might hold back demand for state-based welfare in familialistic countries.

Did the COVID-19 pandemic fuel public support for social protection?

Abstract Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, both viral infection and the corresponding economic turmoil have wreaked havoc across the globe, highlighting the imperative function of the state as a social protection provider. The pandemic has seemingly created favourable political circumstances for rapidly expanding social protection, but its influences on public welfare attitudes remain unclear. In this study, I argue that the impact of pandemic-driven economic risk is too limited to spur strong public support for social protection. The employed empirical analyses using panel data collected in South Korea show that unemployment induced by the pandemic is conducive to higher degrees of individual support for social protection measures, but the impact is only short-lived. Further analyses show that, once individuals are re-employed and as the time spent in economic difficulties becomes more distant, personal unemployment experiences are no longer positively associated with support for social protection. Finally, pandemic-induced unemployment experiences have a lasting impact primarily on young adults. The evidence therefore suggests that significant institutional changes in the welfare state are hard to achieve by solely relying on the impact of economic risk.

Allowance or service: Public attitudes toward childcare‐related family policies in China

AbstractChildcare has been considered a ‘new’ social risk and various childcare regimes have been developed worldwide to tackle this social problem. While welfare attitude studies have paid attention to public attitudes toward childcare services, little is known about public attitudes toward other childcare‐related family policies (i.e., leave and allowance). Using novel and unique survey data on welfare attitudes from China, this article investigates how socioeconomic factors matter to general as well as prioritised support for three types of childcare‐related family policies and to policy regimes in China where low fertility crisis is emerging. The survey data suggests the biggest gap between general and prioritised support is found in allowance policy and the smallest in service policy. Regression models suggest that the biggest gap between general and prioritised support for allowance policy can be explained by the reversed and negative effects of education and gender. We further develop a typology of public support for childcare regimes using Latent Class Analysis (LCA) and find four types: implicit and explicit familialism, de‐familialism, and ambiguous familialism. The results of multinomial logistic regression on public support for childcare regimes confirm the findings on prioritised support for different policies and suggest a bifurcation effect of age on regime preferences. We discuss the implications of the findings in the conclusion.

Women's welfare attitudes in South Korea

AbstractMany scholars argue that gender affects welfare attitudes: women support welfare policies more than men in most welfare societies. However, in South Korea, women tend to oppose welfare policies or show no gender gap in welfare attitudes. As welfare programs in South Korea are expanding, I investigate whether women's attitudes towards welfare policies have changed and if they differ based on self‐interest. I analysed welfare attitude data from the Korea Welfare Panel Study (KoWePS) for 2013 and 2022 using ordered logistic regression models, finding that women in South Korea supported almost all welfare policies less than men. However, in terms of income redistribution and free preschool and childcare service provision, there were no gender differences observed. Furthermore, cleavages among women were found regarding attitudes towards support for the unemployed and free preschool and childcare service provision based on self‐interest. Additionally, progressive women exhibited more supportive attitudes across all domains of welfare.

Deservingness and Welfare Attitudes Through Young Eyes: The Future of the Swiss Welfare State

AbstractThis article demonstrates the value of including youth in deservingness and welfare attitude research by investigating Swiss adolescents' deservingness opinions and welfare attitudes (N = 1601, mean age = 14.6). Through a survey experiment focusing on different unemployed groups and unemployment‐related policies, the study revisits prominent research results like the immigrant deservingness gap from a novel perspective, generating insights relevant within and beyond the Swiss context. First, deservingness is a vital predictor of attitudes towards social rights and obligations already in younger years. Moreover, while some patterns of adult‐centred studies are replicated (older unemployed are seen as more deserving than younger unemployed), there are also stark deviations: EU unemployed living in Switzerland are not seen as less deserving than Swiss unemployed. More research focusing on youth can enhance the social legitimacy of policies, clarify the relationship between deservingness and welfare attitudes, and potentially indicate what to expect from the future of the welfare state.

Procedure Matters: The Distinct Attitudinal Feedback Effects of Immigration Policy

AbstractNatives who dislike immigrants prefer restrictive immigration policies, but do those policies deepen or alleviate anti-immigrant attitudes? Existing theories have offered mixed predictions. Restrictions imposed on immigrants may harden intergroup boundaries and thus deepen hostilities. However, they may also soften attitudes by addressing the economic and identity concerns of natives. Using a conjoint experiment conducted in Hong Kong, I test the multidimensional effects of immigration policies on natives’ attitudes toward highly skilled immigrants. I find that restrictive measures consistently generate more positive attitudes. Strikingly, this effect cannot be fully accounted for by major theoretical explanations, including labor market competition, social identity, and welfare attitudes. Preexisting policy preferences do not condition the effect either. These findings point to the importance of attitudinal policy feedback beyond traditional accounts of immigration attitudes. In-depth qualitative interviews identify two novel causal mechanisms: moralizing and quality assurance effects.

Personality Aspects and Attitudes About Animal Welfare Legislation

ABSTRACT The US Supreme Court recently debated and upheld a significant piece of farmed animal welfare legislation, Proposition 12, which was broadly supported by Californian voters. The goal of this study was to determine how individual differences in personality are related to attitudes about this legislation. We examined how ten lower-order aspects of the Big Five personality traits were related to Proposition 12 in an American sample (n = 802). The Openness aspect of Openness to Experience, the Withdrawal aspect of Neuroticism, and trait domain Agreeableness were consistently related to support for Proposition 12. Effects were not moderated by political orientation, region, gender, or age. Our results show that personality traits are not only an important factor in general political attitudes about animal welfare, but that they can predict people’s attitudes about particular pieces of animal welfare legislation. Results also highlight the importance of considering lower-order aspects for predicting animal welfare attitudes.

Welfare attitudes in Korean society: effects of cohort and social exclusion

Public awareness of social welfare policies, along with their increasing political influence, has led to growing interest in welfare attitudes. However, there has been insufficient consideration of the effects of different cohorts and social exclusion groups on attitudes to welfare in Korean society, as well as the dynamics of these effects. This article specifically examines changes in attitudes to welfare in South Korea with a focus on cohort and social exclusion perspectives. First, the study found that recent attitudes towards redistribution highlight generational perspectives on intergenerational conflict rather than a focus on social exclusion. Second, cohorts associated with democratisation and the information age displayed reluctance towards tax increases but held favourable views regarding redistributive policies and universal welfare. Third, socially excluded groups tended to favour selective welfare and tax increases. Finally, the current elderly generation, represented by the War-industrialisation cohort, exhibited relatively negative attitudes towards the welfare system compared to subsequent generations. These findings underscore the necessity for expanding government policies to enhance welfare understanding and experiences among the post-war generation and socially excluded groups. Additionally, it is crucial to address generational distributional justice and to broaden discussions on solidarity.

Impact of regulating political connections on employee welfare attitude: Evidence from China

We investigated how regulating political connections affects firms’ employee welfare attitudes using a quasi-natural experiment in China. We find that the depoliticization regulation negatively impacts employee welfare attitudes toward firm staff benefits, but positively impact welfare attitudes toward firm humanistic care. Furthermore, we find that the SOEs’ employee welfare attitude regarding staff benefits is profoundly reduced; the effect of regulating political connections on welfare attitudes toward firms’ humanistic care is particularly effective for non-SOEs. Additionally, the impact of regulating political connections on employees’ welfare attitudes is particularly profound for firms in the manufacturing sector. Moreover, our empirical results indicate that the impact of regulating political connections on employee welfare attitudes is significant, particularly for firms experiencing financial constraints. Firms located in neither left- nor right-leaning regions seem to form the most affected group. Finally, the weakening of firms’ political connections has resulted in a decline of corporate wage differentials.

Re-evaluating the welfare preferences of radical-right voters: evidence from a vignette experiment

Research on the welfare stances of populist radical-right parties (PRRPs) cate­gorises them as ‘welfare chauvinists’ and ‘producerists’, supporting generous benefits exclusively for ‘hard-working’ nationals. However, it remains unclear whether their voters’ welfare preferences align with these positions. The argument advanced in this paper is that a comprehensive understanding of PRRP voters’ welfare preferences requires the examination of how solidarity and perceptions of welfare claimant deservingness interact. Thus, this article employs a factorial vignette survey experiment to evaluate the interplay between solidarity and deservingness perceptions among PRRP voters. Contrary to previous research, results show that PRRP voters do not exhibit stronger producerist attitudes; instead, they mostly stand out as particularly nativists. While PRRP voters exhibit significantly less solidarity towards welfare claimants deemed ‘least’ and ‘average-deserving’ than other partisans, they are not more solidaristic towards the ‘most deserving’ claimant. These findings challenge existing understanding of deservingness perceptions of PRRP voters, providing a new perspective on the study of their welfare attitudes.

Public attitudes towards government’s role in unemployment provision in three East Asian countries

ABSTRACT Public support for unemployment provision is essential to provide political legitimacy for welfare policy arrangements and yet it is understudied in East Asian welfare states. In contrast with the proposed unfavourable attitudes towards welfare among East Asian countries from the developmental/productivist perspectives, the study suggests socio-demographic and ideological differences in public attitudes towards the role of government in unemployment provision within and across Japan, (South) Korea, and Taiwan, which differ in welfare production regime and extent of labour market dualization. Data from the 2016 Role of Government V survey of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) was analysed. Findings revealed lower levels of public support for unemployment provision in large firm-oriented welfare production regimes like Japan and Korea, though in which labour market outsiders such as women, younger people, and unemployed workers were more supportive than their counterparts. Despite cross-national attitudinal differences, higher levels of support were consistently found in the lowest-income groups across three East Asian countries. The study provides new evidence of diverse patterns of welfare attitudes regarding unemployment provision in the East Asian welfare regimes. It also presents the need of (un)employment protection among labour market outsiders and low-income groups within these countries.

A Study on the Impact of the Combination of Income and Assets on Welfare Attitudes in Korean Society

A Study on the Impact of the Combination of Income and Assets on Welfare Attitudes in Korean Society

Impacts of a Poverty Simulation Experience on Student Empathy Levels Toward People Living in Poverty

Many people hold negative opinions about individuals living in poverty without direct experience with poverty. Educating college students on the realities of life in poverty is critical to prepare them to serve in human-service careers. One way to educate about poverty is through an experiential education tool called a “simulation.” Poverty simulations are powerful tools that give participants embodied role-play experiences to promote social empathy and combat negative or singular perceptions of poverty. We explore the impact of the Missouri Community Action Network poverty simulation (CAPS) on student empathy for people experiencing poverty. We used the Undergraduate Perspectives of Poverty Tracking Survey (UPPTS) implemented as a retrospective pretest. While the impacts of CAPS have been studied, our unique contribution is the focus on empathy and use of the UPPTS. We found that student empathy for people living in poverty increased after the simulation with the greatest change occurring around four UTTPS factors: welfare attitudes, do more, lack of resources, and equal opportunity. Gender and financial status were the two demographics that had statistically significant difference of impact between categories with women and those who were “very financially secure” experiencing a greater change in empathy between pre and post scores.

Rethinking Part-Time Outsiders’ Risks and Welfare Attitudes

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.

Determinants of the backfire effect: Discrepancies between two groups with different political orientations

In this study, we explored the determinants of the backfire effect by analysing supporters’ reactions to information propagated by the opposition camps. We focused on the topic of pork consumption. The study cohort (N = 971) comprised the supporters of the pan-blue (N = 422) and pan-green (N = 549) camps in Taiwan. Data were collected through an online survey. The echo chambers and message response emerged as robust factors influencing the backfire effect on individuals regardless of their political orientation. Message presentation negatively affected the induction of backfire effects. For the pan-green supporters, behavioural control and animal welfare attitude, respectively, exerted positive and negative influences on the induction of backfire effects. Our findings provide insights into the determinants of the backfire effect, a phenomenon wherein individuals fail to differentiate between fact and fiction despite receiving credible corrective information.

The Role of Party Identification in Social Welfare Attitude Formation

This paper aimed to answer the question whether republicans are more likely to hold an opposed attitude towards social welfare compared to those identifying as Independents or Democrats. Building upon prior research and employing statistical analyses through SPSS, our findings strongly indicate a significant tendency among Republicans to oppose social welfare initiatives than independents and democrats.

Mind the gap: Young people and welfare-state related knowledge in deservingness and welfare attitude research

Welfare deservingness opinions help explain welfare attitudes and hence are crucial for understanding the social legitimacy of the welfare state. However, even when considering deservingness alongside other explanatory frameworks, many open questions remain in the welfare attitude framework. This article argues that a novel research agenda focusing on welfare-state related knowledge and young people could considerably enrich current debates in deservingness and welfare attitude research. Deservingness assessments are made heuristically and could greatly depend on what people know (especially when they are misinformed). Studying this with young people is highly relevant, as the formative years are crucial for welfare attitude formation and change, even later in life. Research with young people provides unique opportunities for disentangling causal mechanisms between welfare-state related knowledge, deservingness and welfare attitudes. Moreover, it could help challenge welfare-state related misinformation and build resilience against disinformation. This thematic review outlines benefits, blind spots, and research trajectories when focusing on knowledge and young people in deservingness and welfare attitude research.

Relationship between Investment Experience and Welfare Attitudes in Korean Society: Focusing on the Insufficiency of Labor Income and the Importance of Investment Income

This study aims to examine the relationship between individual investment behavior in financial products, such as financial assets, real estate, and cryptocurrencies, and their perception of social risks in South Korean society. Additionally, the study analyzes the influence of investment experience in financial products on attitudes toward the expansion of public welfare. The analysis reveals that as individuals perceive a greater insufficiency in relying solely on labor income for maintaining a stable life, the likelihood of having investment experience in financial assets and cryptocurrencies increases. In contrast, as individuals perceive a greater insufficiency in relying solely on labor income for maintaining a stable life, the likelihood of having investment experience in real estate decreases. Furthermore, the study finds that these investment experiences in financial products have varying effects on attitudes toward welfare expenditure expansion, depending on the type of financial product.

How Social Values Affect Welfare Attitudes? A Cross-National Comparison

This preliminary study examines how social values explain the cross-national differences in welfare attitudes, grounded in Inglehart and Baker’s (2000) social value theory. By employing secondary data collected by World Values Survey [WVS], this preliminary study empirically tested two hypotheses: (H1) Nations that emphasize the secular-rational values have more pro-welfare attitudes than the nations encouraging the traditional values; and (H2) Nations that promote the values of self-expression have more pro-welfare attitudes than nations that foster survival values. Results of the study demonstrated social values significantly affects public’s welfare attitude, controlling economic and ideological factors. People in societies which promote the value of self-expression, such as respect for diversity and political participation, are more likely to support more expansive social welfare policies.