In most democracies, classes tend to vary with respect to an array of attitudes and behaviours, and differences are large within a number of European polities. What mechanisms lie behind these differences? Do they relate primarily to individuals’ material interests, as assumed by traditional class theories, or instead, to socialization and self-selection factors? This paper seeks to extend theory and research through an analysis of mechanisms behind class differences in policy attitudes. Our focus is on the Nordic countries, where class differences are extensive and well-documented in past scholarship. We take advantage of high-quality European Social Survey data for Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Analyzing three policy arenas and the 9-category European Socio-economic Classification scheme (ESeC), we find evidence that class-related factors help to explain cleavages in attitudes. Comparisons with the more detailed, 103-category International Standard Classification of Occupation scheme (ISCO) suggest that these factors explain less “micro-class” occupational variation. Results shed new light on mechanisms behind class differences, and the empirical foundations of established class theories. These and other implications are discussed in the conclusion.
Work orientations are compared in six Western countries, using data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP). The main issue in the paper is whether different ‘production regimes’ correspond to levels and patterns of employment commitment and organizational commitment among the working population. It is concluded that the level of employment commitment varies with production regime, being highest in the Scandinavian countries and lowest in the liberal market economies. Organizational commitment varies in a more complex manner, with the strongest commitment found in the USA and the lowest in Sweden. Group differences in commitment display a mixed pattern, with little systematic variation between production regimes.
Using data from the European Social Survey, we analyse the link between basic human values and attitudes towards redistribution, and how that link differs among classes and across countries. We assess whether and why the class-specific impact of self-transcendence and self-enhancement values on attitudes towards redistribution differs across a selection of European countries. The results show that the links between values and attitudes are generally stronger in more materially secure and privileged classes. However, the relative strength of the associations varies substantially across countries. Where inequality is smaller and poverty less prevalent, the link between values and attitudes becomes less class-specific. These findings provide support for our two main interpretations: (a) that welfare policies mitigate the class-specific risks that people are exposed to, which make values more salient and effective among workers; and (b) that the existence of visible and salient redistributive policies works to make clearer the cognitive link between abstract values and support for concrete policies.
This article reports findings about Swedes' attitudes towards the welfare state from 1981 to 2010, building on data from the Swedish Welfare State Surveys. Attitudes towards social spending, willingness to pay taxes, attitudes towards collective financing and public organization, suspicion about welfare abuse, and trust in the task performance of the welfare state are tracked. Overall, there is a large degree of stability in attitudes, and where change is registered, it tends to go in the direction of increasing support. More people state their willingness to pay higher taxes for welfare policy purposes; more people want collective financing of welfare policies; and fewer people perceive extensive welfare abuse in 2010 than was the case in previous surveys. Class patterns change so that the salaried and the self-employed become more similar to workers in their attitudes. Hence, the unprecedented election loss of the Swedish Social Democrats in 2010, and the rise of the Moderates (conservatives) as the dominant party cannot be explained by changing attitudes towards the welfare state. Nor can any corrosive effects from increased marketization of the Swedish welfare state on public support for welfare policies be detected.
This paper compares class patterns of 'conformism' in four Western countries, taking as its point of departure arguments, which suggest that conformism/authoritarianism is more prevalent in the working class than other classes. Data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) are used in order to compare class attitudes towards sexual behaviour and civil rights/liberties, in Britain, Germany, Sweden and the United States. This study finds that class patterns in attitudes differ little between the countries in question, although aggregated levels vary quite substantially. It is also concluded that class differences in attitudes towards civil rights/liberties are almost exclusively a result from different levels of education, while significant class differences in attitudes towards sexual activities remain also after taking education levels into account. The implications of the results for social stratification and political articulation are discussed.
One of the most important arenas for contemporary class politics is the welfare state. In this article, attitudes towards welfare policies among different classes in Sweden are compared with other Western countries and over time. In the first part of the article, attitudes towards state intervention among different classes are compared across four Western countries: Sweden, Germany, Britain and the USA. The data come from the 1996 survey on "The Role of Government" conducted within the International Social Survey Programme. In the second part of the article, more detailed national data sets are used in order to track developments within Sweden from the early 1980s until 2002. Attitudes towards welfare spending, financing of welfare policies and service delivery are used to track developments of class differences in attitudes over time. It is concluded (a) that class differences are particularly large in Sweden, and (b) that changes over time indicate stability in overall class differences, combined with changes in attitudes among non-manual employees. The implications of the results for recent arguments about the restructuring of class relations and the impact of welfare policies on stratification are discussed.
The welfare state is a trademark of the European social model. An extensive set of social and institutional actors provides protection against common risks, offering economic support in periods of hardship and ensuring access to care and services. Welfare policies define a set of social rights and address common vulnerabilities to protect citizens from market uncertainties. But over recent decades, European welfare states have undergone profound restructuring and recalibration.This book analyzes people's attitudes toward welfare policies across Europe, and offers a novel comparison with the United States. Occupied with normative orientations toward the redistribution of resources and public policies aimed at ameliorating adverse conditions, the book focuses on the interplay between individual welfare attitudes and behavior, institutional contexts, and structural variables. It provides essential input into the comparative study of welfare state attitudes and offers critical insights into the public legitimacy of welfare state reform.
The paper analyses how perceptions of government quality – in terms of impartialityand efficiency – impact on attitudes to taxes and social spending. It builds on data fromthe European Social Survey 2008 from 29 European countries. The paper shows alarge degree of congruence between expert-based judgments and the general public’sperceptions of the quality of government. It also shows that the quality of governmenthas a clear, independent effect on attitudes to taxes and spending, so that people whoperceive institutions as efficient and fair want higher taxes and spending. But governmentquality also conditions the impact of egalitarianism on attitudes to taxes and spending: inhigh-quality-of-government egalitarianism has a clearly stronger impact on these attitudes.It is concluded that government quality is an important and so far neglected factor inexplaining attitudes to welfare policies.
This paper tests contested arguments within the institutionalist literature about the relation between institutional and attitudinal changes, using the reunified Germany as a case. Eastern Germany constitutes a case approaching a ‘natural experiment’ for the social sciences, being twice the receiver of externally imposed institutions. It, therefore, provides a unique opportunity to closely analyse institutional effects on attitudes, as in this particular case, the time order of institutional and attitudinal changes can actually be decided. Using data from the International Social Survey Program modules on ‘The Role of Government’ (1990, 1996, and 2006), attitudes towards government responsibilities are compared in Eastern and Western Germany, and to other countries. Results show a considerable convergence in attitudes between Eastern and Western Germany – attitudes in Western Germany are completely stable while attitudes in Eastern Germany become, overtime, more similar to those found in the West. Furthermore, comparisons of different birth cohorts show that while considerable attitude differences between Eastern and Western Germany are still found in 2006 among those who had their forming experiences before the fall of the wall, differences are virtually nil among those who were still children in 1989. In summary, the analysis provides strong support for the attitude-forming effects of institutions, and a clear vindication of institutional theories. It also points to generational replacement as a key mechanism in translating institutional change into attitudinal change.
As Hacker and Pierson (2010) have observed, politics is primarily organization: “orga-nized combat.” To understand the outcomes of politics, we have to look at how it is orga-nized over time: by whom and with what resources? I take Sweden as an example of how politics as organized combat has changed quite dramatically in recent decades. Sweden is often cited as an opposite to the United States among the rich capitalist countries, but it has experienced many encompassing policy changes which have not received the at-tention they deserve. The paper specifies how Swedish organized politics has changed fundamentally, including the dismantling of corporatist arrangements, changes in the economic policy decision-making framework, increased income inequality, weakened political parties and changes in their social bases, the decline of blue-collar union strength, the growth of the policy professionals category, the increased impact of mul-tilevel politics, and the mediatization of politics. Today’s amorphous, invisible mode of elite-driven policy-making diverges greatly from the old corporatist structures and is accompanied by dramatically increasing inequality. Even in Sweden, the impact of money on politics has become stronger. The paper discusses what this implies for cur-rent politics and policy-making in Sweden.
Stefan Svallfors artikel utgår från Jacob Hacker och Paul Piersons iakttagelse, i deras Winner-take-all politics (2010), att politik först och främst är organisation, närmare bestämt ”organiserad kamp”. Perspektivet betyder att vi, för att förstå politikens utfall, måste studera hur den är organiserad i ett längre perspektiv – av vem och med vilka resurser? Svallfors visar att den svenska organiserade politiken har förändrats i grunden under de senaste årtiondena, en utveckling som inte har fått den uppmärksamhet den förtjänar. Det handlar bland annat om nedmonteringen av den korporativistiska ordningen, ett förändrat ramverk för ekonomiskt-politiskt beslutsfattande, en mer ojämlik inkomstfördelning, försvagade politiska partier och förändringar i partiernas sociala bas, ett minskat inflytande för fackföreningarna, framväxten av en ny grupp professionella politiska aktörer, ett större behov av att bedriva politiskt arbete på flera nivåer samt en starkare koppling mellan politik och medier. I artikeln diskuterar Svallfors hur denna utveckling har påverkat dagens politiska landskap och lett till en för Sverige ny form av elitdrivet ”politikskapande”.
The article reviews the book “The Failed Welfare Revolution: America's Struggle Over Guaranteed Income Policy," by Brian Steensland.
This article analyses age differences in attitudes towards public policies to support older people and to support families with children in Sweden. It is shown that support for older people becomes increasingly popular over time, so that it is more popular in all age groups than support for families with children, and that age and class differences in attitudes tend to rise and recede in tandem regarding support for older people, while class differences supplant age differences in the case of support for families with children.