Economic Strain and Public Support for Redistribution: A Comparative Analysis of 28 European Countries

Abstract

Is public support for redistribution affected by the number of people experiencing economic strain in a country? This question is investigated by comparing 28 countries in the fourth round of the European Social Survey 2008-2009 using two-level linear regression models. The results show that individuals reporting economic strain support redistribution more strongly than those who do not experience economic strain. Further, individuals living in countries where many other people report economic strain also support redistribution more strongly than individuals living in countries with less economic strain. The latter correlation is not explained by objective measures of the economic situation such as household income or the income dispersal of the country. The country-level effect of economic strain holds for all income levels. It is largely driven by a tendency to strongly believe in redistribution when living in countries of wide-spread economic strain. The results indicate that governments would receive more rather than less public support for redistributive policies during periods of economic strain.

European parents’ attitudes towards public childcare provision: the role of current provisions, interests and ideologies

“…Besides interests that are based on rational calculus, individuals' ideological positions have been shown to be important predictors of welfare attitudes (Blekesaune 2013;Edlund 2006). This is based on the idea that 'attitudes towards the welfare state are rooted in more general value systems regarding the proper relationship between the individual, the state and other institutions' (Blekesaune and Quadagno 2003: 416).…”

“…This is based on the idea that 'attitudes towards the welfare state are rooted in more general value systems regarding the proper relationship between the individual, the state and other institutions' (Blekesaune and Quadagno 2003: 416). Previous studies have used political partisanship (Goerres and Tepe 2012) or economic individualism (Blekesaune and Quadagno 2003;Blekesaune 2013) to determine why individuals support a certain policy or welfare states in general. We explore two attitudinal factors relevant to our understanding of parents' support for public childcare policies.…”

Economic hardship and social capital in Europe: A comparative analysis of 27 democracies

“…Measures of this type have been applied in several prior studies of economic hardship (Andrews et al. ; Blekesaune ). The respondents’ level of education is measured by the age when they stopped full‐time education…”

“…(: 565) who focus on ‘social cohesion as an attitudinal phenomenon reflecting individuals’ perceptions of the quality of the relationships between different social groups’. While these authors, as well as Blekesaune (), use the term ‘economic strain’ instead of economic hardship, we refer to the latter in order to consistently present our key concepts.…”

Запросы Россиян На Содействие Государства: Социальное Инвестирование Или Социальная Поддержка?

“…Оно диктуется, в первую очередь, (1) собственными интересами населения [Blekesaune, Quadagno, 2003;Knijn, van Oorschot, 2008] и (2) идеологическими паттернами [Blekesaune, 2013;Edlund, 2006;Hasenfeld, RaVerty, 1989;Groskind, 1994, Jaeger, 2006, которые в зависимости от позиций исследователей также могут дополняться спецификой социализации, паттернами национальной культуры в отношении социальной поли тики, текущей конфигурацией социальной сферы и т. д. [Blekesaune, 2013;Chung, Meuleman, 2017;Chung et al, 2018;Kootstra, Roosma, 2018 и др.]. Значимость индивидуальных интересов в вопросе восприятия политики все общего благосостояния и отдельных ее механизмов многократно подтверж дена эмпирическими исследованиями.…”