Nordic welfare chauvinism: A comparative study of welfare chauvinism in Sweden, Norway and Finland

Abstract

This study analyses welfare chauvinist attitudes in the generous welfare states of Sweden, Norway and Finland. We find that strict forms of exclusionary welfare chauvinism are near non-existent. However, Finland, Norway and Sweden are in the top tier in Europe when it comes to beliefs that immigrants need to obtain citizenship before being given equal rights to social benefits. This may indicate a future turn in social policy when it comes to inclusion of non-citizens, with significant implications for social workers. We further analyse welfare chauvinism by exploring socio-economic factors, satisfaction with the country, and attitudes towards both benefits and immigrants.

Perceptions and realities: Explaining welfare chauvinism in Europe

“…Attitudes towards redistribution have also been found to influence welfare chauvinistic attitudes (Grdešić, 2019; Bell et al, 2022). We therefore create a scale for measuring attitudes towards welfare benefits using four questions where the respondents were asked if they disagree strongly (=1) or agree strongly (=5) with the following statements concerning social benefits/services: (1) Social benefits/services cost businesses too much in taxes/charges; (2) Social benefits/services make people lazy; (3) Social benefits/services make people less willing to care for one another; (4) Social benefits/services place too great a strain on the economy.…”