Kicking down on the ladder of deservingness: has welfare reform led to welfare chauvinism?

Abstract

I use qualitative interview data to show that negative experiences citizens make with labor market and pension policies can lead them to form more „exclusivist“ welfare attitudes (deservingness attitudes and welfare chauvinism). Negative welfare experiences typically come down to feelings of injustice and misrecognition triggered by welfare conditionalities (obligations a recipient has to fulfill) that do not take into account a specific recipient group’s capacity to fulfill these requirements, or their specific situation of need. On the contrary, I show that certain social investment policies can trigger very positive welfare experiences precisely by recognizing specific situations of need and by providing resources that enable recipients to make an effective change. In return, many of them argue that others should be given the same opportunity, showcasing the formation of “inclusivist” welfare attitudes.This early-stage paper draft has been presented at the CEE-Sciences Po Workshop on Policy Feedback on 17-June-2022.