Premium
Popular support for institutionalised solidarity: a comparison between European welfare states
Author(s) -
Gelissen J.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
international journal of social welfare
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1468-2397
pISSN - 1369-6866
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2397.00140
Subject(s) - eurobarometer , welfare state , solidarity , welfare , economic justice , politics , political science , economics , public economics , european union , microeconomics , market economy , law , economic policy
In this article, we study the determinants of supportiveness for the welfare state as a system of institutionalised solidarity. We distinguish between two types of support; namely, 1) whether people hold the state responsible for achieving social‐economic security and distributive justice, and 2) people's preference for the range of these goals that should be realised if the state is indeed held responsible. Using data from the Eurobarometer survey series, we investigate how, and to what extent, both kinds of support for the welfare state are related to position in the stratification structure, demographic characteristics, and social‐political beliefs, as well as to features of European welfare state regimes. The results of a two‐level hierarchical model suggest that moral commitment to the welfare state dominates at the individual level, whereas self‐interest enters the picture mainly if a person is highly dependent on the provisions of the welfare state. Further, the findings give no support to the claim of a systematic variation between levels of popular support for the welfare state and its institutional set‐up.