Welfare Reform on the Web (January 2012): Welfare state - overseas

A bedrock of support? Trends in welfare state attitudes in Sweden, 1981-2010

S. Svallfors

Social Policy and Administration, vol. 45, 2011, p. 806-825

This article tracks changes in Swedes' attitudes to their welfare state over the past 30 years based on data from the long running Swedish Welfare State Surveys. There was absolutely no sign of any decline in public support for the welfare state. Overall attitudes were stable over time, and any changes reflected increased support for social welfare. More people stated their willingness to pay higher taxes to support the welfare state; more people favoured collective financing of welfare policies; and fewer people suspected extensive welfare abuse in 2010 than in earlier surveys. Class attitudes changed so that the attitudes of the salaried and the self-employed converged with those of workers.

The development of ideal-typical welfare regime theory

C. Aspalter

International Social Work, vol. 54, 2011, p. 735-750

Arts and Gelissen (2002) and Jaeger (2006) pointed out the necessity of developing formal theorising in comparative welfare state analysis by using Esping-Andersen's ideal-typical approach. This article explains the importance of the ideal-typical method in welfare state comparison, especially when classifying welfare state systems in East Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. It identifies an additional ideal typical welfare regime in Latin America: the anti-welfare conservative welfare regime.