A COMPARISON OF MASS ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE WELFARE STATE IN DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONAL REGIMES, 1985-1990

Abstract

This paper examines the validity of predominant assumptions about popular support for the welfare state. These presuppositions include the notion that support for the welfare state varies in different types of regimes (be they ‘liberal’ or ‘social democratic’ or ‘conservative’), the idea that different social groups (for example, the middle and working classes and the unemployed) have different interests with respect to the welfare state, and the view that political alignments have a strong influence on attitudes to welfare. To investigate these issues we analyze the 1990 International Social Survey Programme Role of Government Survey and compare it to the findings of an analysis we conducted on the 1985 survey. The aim therefore is to examine the relationship between mass attitudes and specific types of welfare state regime and the social and other correlates of mass opinion.