Social Values and Cross-National Differences in Attitudes towards Welfare

Abstract

Studies on public opinion about welfare already acknowledge the role context plays in individual attitudes towards welfare. However, the much-debated effect of socially held values and beliefs on attitudes towards social policy has not been empirically investigated. Drawing on studies in political and social psychology, as well as Shalom Schwartz's work on universal human values, this article argues that social values, specifically egalitarianism and embeddedness, affect individual support for social welfare policies. Moreover, we posit that social values condition the effect that individual ideological orientations have on attitudes towards government responsibility, such that the effect of embeddedness is much stronger for right-wing and moderate identifiers than those who lean towards the left. We test our hypotheses using data from the European Social Surveys (ESS) and International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) Role of Government module and employing multi-level modelling. Our results provide evidence of the importance of social context and shared values in influencing attitudes towards welfare.

Individual Values and SME Environmental Engagement

“…Schwartz and Bilsky (1990) further suggested that the prevalence and compatibility of particular value domains may vary depending on the concrete action context in which they are activated. Studies into different action contexts, such as work (Wöhrmann, Fasbender, & Deller, 2016), political attitudes and activism (Rathburn, Kertzer, Reifler, Goren, & Scotto, 2016), and social issues (Arikan, Ben-Nun, & Bloom, 2015) found different combinations of value domains to relate to contrasting attitudes and behaviors. Onkila (2009) found that corporate environmental statements tended to draw on Power values; and Mirosa, Lawson, and Gnoth (2013) found that Achievement values were most influential in motivating people to save energy in their homes.…”

An examination of certain antecedents of social entrepreneurial intentions among Mexico residentes

“…Empowering low socio-economic potential entrepreneurs implies the creation of models driving values to develop frugal or incremental innovations aimed at forming a positive attitude towards social entrepreneurship. Social vision represents the standards of an individual's ideological orientation, made inter-subjectively (Arikan & Bloom, 2015;Tsirogianni & Gaskel, 2011), that could be reinforced and used to promote the development of new social ventures. This is particularly important for Mexico, since research shows that Latin America and the Caribbean have not shown significant advances in their innovation indexes (Dutta, Lanvin, & Wunsch-Vincent, 2015), which is manifest in a small social innovation sector (Jáuregui, 2013).…”

The role of right‐wing authoritarianism and political sophistication in shaping attitudes toward redistribution

“…Previous studies have associated the differences in citizens' welfare policy preferences to material selfinterest (Chong, Citrin, & Conley, 2001;Fong, 2001;Iversen & Soskice, 2001), partisanship and ideological self-identification (Jaeger, 2008;Kim, 2004;Schneider & Jacoby, 2005), as well as ideological belief systems (Arikan & Ben-Nun Bloom, 2015;Feldman & Zaller, 1992;Hasenfeld & Rafferty, 1989;Kluegel & Smith, 1986;Pratto, 1999;Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). Typically, the following two essential dimensions of ideological belief systems are differentiated: (i) an economic dimension that reflects a preference for social solidarity and equality or for free markets, competition, and the acceptance of social inequality and (ii) a socio-cultural dimension that reflects a preference for individual freedom and social diversity or for security, tradition, and conformity.…”