Open markets and welfare values Welfare values, inequality and social change in the silver age of the welfare state

TLDR: This paper examined the impact of current changes on welfare values in the various types of European welfare states (including accession states), using international attitude survey data, and found that most citizens remain committed to mild egalitarianism.

Abstract: Market principles are becoming more prominent in citizen experience of public policy across Europe, as a result of economic globalization and the Maastricht commitment to ‘open markets’, and cost-constraint, privatization and labour market activation pursued in response to the various pressures confronting welfare states. These principles (inequality, competitiveness, allocation through ability to pay) contradict those traditionally associated with social policy (equity, solidarity, social justice). This paper examines the impact of current changes on welfare values in the various types of European welfare states (including accession states), using international attitude survey data. It shows that most citizens remain committed to mild egalitarianism. Citizen ideology will thus continue to buttress resilience to pressures for restructuring in the various welfare state regimes. The paper goes on to consider the impact of social change by examining the values of groups with particular interests who are like...