Introduction to A Research Agenda for Public Attitudes to Welfare

Studying public attitudes to welfare is relevant for assessing the social legitimacy of the welfare state, knowing that this welfare state can only function if it is seen as just by the public. In this introductory chapter we map the current state of the academic literature and sketch a research agenda of public attitudes to welfare by presenting six potential new lines of research. We suggest to 1) expanding the scope of welfare attitudes research by examining more conditions of welfare state legitimacy, identifying how people combine different welfare attitudes and focus on attitudes towards more detailed and new social policies; 2) expanding the explanatory factors in welfare attitudes research by exploring welfare attitudes of different subgroups with special interests in the welfare state and by focusing more on contextual circumstances; and 3) expanding the dynamic perspective on public attitudes to welfare by studying change and volatility of welfare attitudes.