Who Loves the Swedish Welfare State? Attitude Trends 1980–2010

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Svallfors
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Public Organization ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Degree Of Stability ◽  
The Welfare State

Attitudes toward social spending, collective financing, and public organization, willingness to pay taxes, suspicion about welfare abuse, and trust in the task performance of the welfare state show a large degree of stability in Sweden, and where change is registered, it tends to go in the direction of increasing support. More people state their willingness to pay higher taxes for welfare policy purposes; more people want collective financing of welfare policies; and fewer people perceive extensive welfare abuse. Class patterns change so that the salaried and the self-employed become more similar to workers in their attitudes. Hence, no attitudinal corrosive effects from increased marketization of the Swedish welfare state can be detected on public support for welfare policies.

Welfare Retrenchment

2021 ◽  
pp. 766-784
Author(s):  
Jonah D. Levy
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Politics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Spending Cuts ◽  
The Welfare State

This chapter examines the debate over the retrenchment of the welfare state. It discusses Paul Pierson’s groundbreaking ‘new politics of the welfare state’ thesis, which argues that the politics of welfare retrenchment operates according to fundamentally different rules from the politics of welfare expansion. In particular, the presence of groups with a shared interest in preserving existing social policies means that the defence of the welfare state is not left just to labour and parties of the left. In addition, both recipients and providers of welfare policies stand ready to mobilize against programme cuts, making retrenchment exceedingly difficult. To the extent that retrenchment takes place, Pierson contends that it occurs primarily via techniques of obfuscation that hide the government’s responsibility for its actions. The chapter also analyses claims that retrenchment is more extensive than Pierson acknowledges if a different metric is used, such as social spending relative to need, or if recent cutbacks are taken into account, such as those that occurred in Greece in response to the sovereign debt crisis. Finally, the chapter traces an alternative trajectory of welfare reform. As against the unsavoury and conspiratorial methods emphasized by Pierson, governments may enact spending cuts by taking their case to the public, hitching retrenchment to higher objectives, negotiating with the social partners or political opposition, and addressing concerns about fairness. The two channels of reform are not mutually exclusive; rather, they point to different ways to cut, adapt, and modernize the welfare state.

Sympathy for the Neoliberal

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arjun Chowdhury
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
The State ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Market Mechanisms ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Provision Of Services ◽  
The Welfare State

This chapter offers an alternative view of the emergence and persistence of the welfare state and the effect of neoliberalism on the state. By showing the very recent origins of the tax base to pay for elevated social spending, the chapter argues that the welfare state is more contingent than currently appreciated because its funding originated in costly and unrepeatable wars. Subsequently, the ability of the state to provide welfare has been challenged by neoliberalism, which offers markets as an alternative to state provision of services. The result is that the demand for services is high and unfulfilled by market mechanisms, as classical liberals had argued about markets failing to supply for the poor, but popular willingness to pay taxes is lower than what is required to provide those services. Neoliberalism has not replaced the state with market mechanisms but has compromised the state’s ability to be self-enforcing.

Family as a Redistributive Principle of the Welfare State. The Case of Germany

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
PATRICIA FRERICKS ◽  
MARTIN GURÍN ◽  
JULIA HÖPPNER
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Microsimulation Model ◽  
State Regulations ◽  
State Research ◽  
Theoretical Assumptions ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
Support Family ◽  
The Welfare State

Abstract Family is one of the major principles of welfare state redistribution. It has, however, rarely been at the centre of welfare state research. This contribution intends to help remedy the research gap in family-related redistribution. By examining the German welfare state which is known to be both redistributive and family-oriented, we want to answer the question of how and how far the German welfare state institutionalises family as a redistributive principle. Our case-study of German welfare state regulations in terms of family is based on the tax-benefit microsimulation model EUROMOD and its Hypothetical Household Tool (HHoT). We differentiate 54 family forms to adequately reflect our three theoretical assumptions, which are: (1) redistributive logics differ across family forms, and in part markedly; (2) these differences are not the result of one coherent set of regulations, but of an interplay of partially contradictory regulations; (3) family as a redistributive principle manifests itself not only in terms of additional benefits to families, but also in terms of particular obligations of families to financially support family members before they are entitled to public support. These aspects have hardly been analysed before and combining them allows a clear evaluation of family-related redistribution.

scholarly journals Citizens’ Opinions About Basic Income Proposals Compared – A Conjoint Analysis of Finland and Switzerland

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 383-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
ISABELLE STADELMANN-STEFFEN ◽  
CLAU DERMONT
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Conjoint Analysis ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Exact Design ◽  
The Welfare State

AbstractThe basic income (BI) scheme is a fundamental reform of the welfare state that has recently gained widespread attention. Proposals for different variants of BI schemes have emerged to account for varying political and societal goals. This study investigates what citizens think about the idea of a BI, and to what extent citizens’ perceptions depend on the exact design of such a scheme and the context in which this policy is embedded. Empirically, we rely on conjoint experiments conducted in Finland and Switzerland – the two countries in which the introduction of a BI scheme has recently been discussed most intensely. We find that the level of public support for BI is higher in Finland than it is in Switzerland. Moreover, despite the contrasting designs of the BI proposals in the two countries, both Finnish and Swiss citizens tend to favor more generous schemes restricting non-nationals’ access to the provision.

Denmark: The Rise of Fascism and the Decline of the Nordic Model

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasna Balorda
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
People's Party ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Agendas ◽  
The Welfare State

Contrary to its conventional image as a social-democratic paragon, the Danish welfare state has, in recent decades, been undergoing significant changes as a response to the intrusion into the social sphere by self-regulating markets and a final departure from Keynesian politics of universalism and solidarity. This article examines the evident decline of the Nordic model as a result of neoliberal globalisation and establishes an association between the erosion of the welfare state and the emergence of fascist political sentiment in Denmark. An analysis of the Danish People's party and its growing public support among the disenfranchised working class communities in Denmark demonstrates how those overlooked by the free market and unrepresented by the liberal left become increasingly more receptive to the proposed social agendas of the far right campaigns.

Great Recession, great regression? The welfare state in the twenty-first century

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celia Lessa Kerstenetzky ◽  
Graciele Pereira Guedes
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Public Expenditure ◽  
First Century ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Tax Burden ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Investment Policies ◽  
Stable Performance ◽  
The Welfare State

Abstract Has the welfare state undergone significant retrenchment in the aftermath of the 2007–08 crackdown? In the literature, two contrasting views can be found. Some commentators argue that expansions that would otherwise be observed during crises have been suffocated due to the imperative of austerity. Other more optimistic assessments see social investment policies as having been experimented with in various places, alongside widespread retrenchment. In this paper, using an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) database for 35 countries, we check these assessments by examining aggregate figures, such as the evolution—over the 2007–13 period—of social spending and its composition, the participation of social spending in public expenditure, the tax burden and tax composition and welfare state effectiveness. We document expansion in the OECD area alongside stable performance. However, important challenges persist.

scholarly journals Immigration and Support for Social Policy: An Experimental Comparison of Universal and Means-Tested Programs

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (04) ◽  
pp. 717-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordi Muñoz ◽  
Sergi Pardos-Prado
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Experimental Comparison ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Welfare State

A growing body of research suggests that immigration undermines native support for the welfare state. However, the mechanisms behind this relationship and the possible moderating effects of institutions remain inconclusive. In this study, we identify via survey experiments how means-tested programs and targeted spending exacerbate the negative effect of immigration on public support for redistribution. Our findings suggest that different institutional settings can attach different weights to identity considerations across the whole socio-economic spectrum. We conclude by discussing the implications of our results for previous contradictory findings in the literature, and for the effectiveness of welfare policies in times of increasing ethnic diversity.

Justifications of citizens’ subject positions in public debates on welfare

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne Mikael Autto ◽  
Jukka Törrönen
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Day Care ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Subject Positions ◽  
Public Debates ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Welfare State

Foucault’s work has inspired studies examining how subject positions are constructed for citizens of the welfare state that encourage them to adopt the subject position of active and responsible people or consumers. Yet these studies are often criticised for analysing these subject positions as coherent constructions without considering how their construction varies from one situation to another. This paper develops the concept of subject position in relation to the theory of justification and the concept of modality in order to achieve a more sensitive and nuanced analysis of the politics of welfare in public debates. The theory of justification places greater weight on actors’ competence in social situations. It helps to reveal how justifications and critiques of welfare policies are based on the skilful contextual combination of diverse normative bases. The concept of modality, in turn, makes it possible to elaborate how subject positions in justifications and critiques of welfare policies become associated with specific kinds of values. We demonstrate the approach by using public debates on children’s day care in Finland. The analysis illustrates how subject positions are justified in relation to different kinds of worlds and made persuasive by connecting them to commonly desirable rights, responsibilities, competences or abilities.

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