“First the Grub, then the Morals”? Disentangling the Self-Interest and Ideological Drivers of Attitudes Towards Demanding Activation Policies in Belgium

Abstract

Following the shift towards an activating role of the European welfare states, there is increasing scholarly interest in public support for demanding activation policies that impose obligations on welfare recipients. Borrowing the classical theoretical frameworks used in welfare attitudes research, we aim to disentangle the effect of self-interest and ideological beliefs on support for demanding activation. Using data from the Belgian National Election Study (2014), we find that support for demanding activation is strongly related to authoritarian dispositions, work ethic and rejection of egalitarianism. For the social-structural variables, we find direct as well as indirect (that is, mediated by the ideological dimensions) effects. Controlling for ideology, social categories that are potentially most affected by welfare obligations – i.e. those currently unemployed, with a previous experience of unemployment and low-income individuals – are more likely to oppose demanding policies, which can be interpreted as a self-interest effect. The effects of educational level, conversely, are primarily mediated and should be understood in terms of ideological preferences rather than self-interest. Our results indicate that, when analysing support for specific welfare policies, attention needs to be paid to the interplay between self-interest and ideological preferences.

Sometimes needs change minds: Interests and values as determinants of attitudes towards state support for the self-employed during the COVID-19 crisis

“…Their argument is that since the self-employed often rely on cheap labour for their operations, they are likely to oppose generous (and costly) social protection schemes ( Cusack et al, 2006 : 372). Probably for similar reasons, the self-employed are also among the most critical of job security regulations ( Emmenegger, 2009 ), and they favour demanding activation policies ( Rossetti et al, 2020 ). The self-employed (unless they do not have employees) are also less likely to favour the introduction of a basic income than employees ( Shin et al, 2020 ).…”

Recent advances in understanding welfare attitudes in Europe

“…Despite advancement in studies of attitudes in different policy domains, some domains still lack attention from researchers, like support for invalidity benefits or long-term care arrangements. We do see an increasing number of studies focusing on specific policy trends or features, such as the level of conditionality, activation measures, and/or benefit sanctioning (Kootstra & Roosma, 2016;Buss, 2019;Rossetti et al, 2020b). Moreover, there is an increasing interest in examining support for new policy proposals such as support for the Europeanization of social policies (Gerhards et al, 2016;Baute & Meuleman, 2020) and, specifically the idea of introducing a universal basic income (UBI) (Roosma & van Oorschot, 2019;Vlandas, 2019;Rossetti et al, 2020a).…”

“…Moreover, there is an increasing interest in examining support for new policy proposals such as support for the Europeanization of social policies (Gerhards et al, 2016;Baute & Meuleman, 2020) and, specifically the idea of introducing a universal basic income (UBI) (Roosma & van Oorschot, 2019;Vlandas, 2019;Rossetti et al, 2020a). Although support for a UBI seems high across Europe, it is unclear from these studies whether Europeans support all features of the suggested policy proposal, as its universality and unconditionality directly oppose the deservingness criteria of need and reciprocity (Rossetti et al, 2020b). When asked, respondents seem to prefer targeted schemes over UBI (Rincón García, 2021).…”

Explaining public support for demanding activation of the unemployed: The role of subjective risk perceptions and stereotypes about the unemployed

“…By consequence, unemployed persons are likely to see these measures as running against their personal interest. Existing empirical research has indeed shown that (past) experience of unemployment makes people more likely to oppose strict conditions for job acceptance and sanctions, even after controlling for one’s ideological position (Buss, 2018; Carriero and Filandri, 2018; Fossati, 2018; Rossetti et al, 2021). A broader interpretation of self-interest theory does not only focus on the current situation, but also takes the perceived probability of experiencing a ‘bad event’ in the future (Rehm, 2016: 60).…”

“…Besides self-interested evaluations of one’s own risk position, attitudes towards social policies are known to be driven by individuals’ ideological outlook and feelings of moral obligations underlying social solidarity (Van Oorschot, 2002). Various studies have pointed out that support for demanding ALMPs is strongly linked to ideological dimensions, such as egalitarianism and political left–right position (Houtman, 1997; Jæger, 2006; Rossetti et al, 2021). Our framework focuses on one ideological dimension that is particularly relevant to study activation support, namely negative stereotypes about the presumed lack of effort of the unemployed to find a job.…”