Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T03:19:52.620Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Escaping the Curse of Economic Self-interest: An Individual-level Analysis of Public Support for the Welfare State in Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2013

TAKANORI SUMINO
TAKANORI SUMINO*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Trinity College, Oxford OX1 3BH email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite the general consensus that individualistic utility-optimising behaviour reduces popular support for the welfare state, we still know little about how and to what extent such negative effects of self-interested calculus are mediated by other attitudinal factors, particularly solidaristic values and principles. Using individual-level data from the Japanese General Social Survey, this study seeks not only to qualify existing findings on welfare preference formation but also to explore the hypothesis that the negative impact of economic self-interest is offset or moderated by solidarity-oriented values and beliefs. The author finds that the oft-made claim that material interest and individualistic ideologies undermine welfare support can be replicated in the context of Japan. The results also provide evidence in support of the liberal nationalist contention that popular discourse on welfare is significantly directed by a sense of national unity. Data from Japan also elucidate the fact that a strong sense of social trust significantly weakens the salience of self-oriented cost–benefit calculations. These findings suggest that solidarity-related variables such as national identity and interpersonal trustworthiness should receive more attention in future research on welfare attitudes.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 109 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alesina, A. and La Ferrara, E. (2005), ‘Preferences for redistribution in the land of opportunities’, Journal of Public Economics, 89: 5–6, 897–931.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersen, J. G. (2007), ‘Restricting access to social protection for immigrants in the Danish welfare state’, Benefits, 15: 3, 257–69.Google Scholar
Baldwin, P. (1990), The Politics of Social Solidarity: Class Bases of the European Welfare State 1875–1975, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldwin, T. and Rozenberg, G. (2004), ‘Britain “must scrap multiculturalism”: race chief calls for change after 40 years’, The Times, 3 April.Google Scholar
Banting, K., Johnston, R., Kymlicka, W. and Soroka, S. (2006), ‘Do multiculturalism policies erode the welfare state? An empirical analysis’, in Banting, K. and Kymlicka, W. (eds.), Multiculturalism and the Welfare State: Recognition and Redistribution in Contemporary Democracies, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bean, C. and Papadakis, E. (1998), ‘A comparison of mass attitudes towards the welfare state in different institutional regimes, 1985–1990’, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 10: 3, 211–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blekesaune, M. and Quadagno, J. (2003), ‘Public attitudes toward welfare state policies: a comparative analysis of 24 nations’, European Sociological Review, 19: 5, 415–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobo, L. and Kluegel, J. R. (1993), ‘Opposition to race-targeting: self-interest, stratification ideology, or racial attitudes?’, American Sociological Review, 58: 443–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, C. and Manza, J. (2006), ‘Social policy responsiveness in developed democracies’, American Sociological Review, 71: 3, 474–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, H. (1998), ‘Popular paradigms and welfare values’, Critical Social Policy, 18: 2, 131–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990), The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, London: Polity.Google Scholar
Feldman, S. and Steenbergen, M. (2001), ‘Social welfare attitudes and the humanitarian sensibility’, in Kuklinski, H. H. (ed.), Citizens and Politics: Perspectives from Political Psychology, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Feldman, S. and Zaller, J. (1992), ‘The political culture of ambivalence: ideological responses to the welfare state’, American Journal of Political Science, 36: 1, 268–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fine, B. (2001), Social Capital versus Social Theory: Political Economy and Social Science at the Turn of the Millennium, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fong, C. (2001), ‘Social preferences, self-interest, and the demand for redistribution’, Journal of Public Economics, 82: 2, 225–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, J. (1996), ‘Nationalism in theory and reality’, Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society, 10: 2, 155–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilens, M. (1995), ‘Racial attitudes and opposition to welfare’, Journal of Politics, 57: 4, 994–1014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilens, M. (1996), ‘“Race coding” and white opposition to welfare’, American Political Science Review, 90: 3, 593–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodhart, D. (2004), ‘Too diverse?’, Prospect, February, 30–7.Google Scholar
Hasenfeld, Y. and Rafferty, J. A. (1989), ‘The determinants of public attitudes toward the welfare state’, Social Forces, 67: 4, 1027–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacoby, W. G. (2000), ‘Issue framing and public opinion on government spending’, American Journal of Political Science, 44: 4, 750–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JGSS Research Center (n.d.), ‘Administration: JGSS-2008’, Summary of Surveys, accessed online 28/03/13 from http://jgss.daishodai.ac.jp/english/surveys/sur_jgss2008.html.Google Scholar
Johnston, R., Banting, K., Kymlicka, W. and Soroka, S. (2010), ‘National identity and support for the welfare state’, Canadian Journal of Political Science, 43: 2, 349–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jæger, M. M. (2006a), ‘Welfare regimes and attitudes towards redistribution: the regime hypothesis revisited’, European Sociological Review, 22: 2, 157–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jæger, M. M. (2006b), ‘What makes people support public responsibility for welfare provision: self-interest or political ideology?’, Acta Sociologica, 49: 3, 321–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kangas, O. E. (1997), ‘Self-interest and the common good: the impact of norms, selfishness and context in social policy opinions’, Journal of Socio-Economics, 26: 5, 475–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kluegel, J. R. and Smith, E. R. (1986), Beliefs about Inequality: Americans’ Views of What Is and What Ought to Be, New York: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Korpi, W. (1981), ‘Social policy and distributional conflict in the capitalist democracies’, West European Politics, 3: 3, 296–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linos, K. and West, M. (2003), ‘Self-interest, social beliefs, and attitudes to redistribution: re-addressing the issue of cross-national variation’, European Sociological Review, 19: 4, 393–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipset, S. M. (1979), The First New Nation: The United States in Historical and Comparative Perspective, New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Marshall, T. H. (1950), Citizenship and Social Class, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Martinez-Herrera, E. (2004), ‘Liberal-nationalist theory, political confidence and support for the welfare state: evidence from Britain’, EUI Working Paper SPS 2004/8.Google Scholar
McClosky, H. and Zaller, J. (1984), The American Ethos, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meltzer, A. H. and Richard, S. F. (1981), ‘A rational theory of the size of government’, Journal of Political Economy, 89: 5, 914–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, D. (1995), On Nationality, Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Nannestad, P. (2008), ‘What have we learned about generalized trust, if anything?’, Annual Review of Political Science, 11: 1, 413–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD (2011), Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Papadakis, E. (1993), ‘Class interests, class politics and welfare state regime’, British Journal of Sociology, 44: 2, 249–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rehm, P. (2009), ‘Risks and redistribution: an individual-level analysis’, Comparative Political Studies, 42: 7, 855–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, K. W. S. (1977), ‘Voting over income tax schedules’, Journal of Public Economics, 8: 3, 329–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romer, T. (1975), ‘Individual welfare, majority voting, and the properties of a linear income tax’, Journal of Public Economics, 4: 2, 163–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothstein, B. and Uslaner, E. M. (2005), ‘All for all: equality, corruption, and social trust’, World Politics, 58: 1, 41–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandmo, A. (1999), ‘The public economics of redistribution and the welfare state’, Review of Population and Social Policy, 8: 139–54.Google Scholar
Shayo, M. (2009), ‘A model of social identity with an application to political economy: nation, class and redistribution’, American Political Science Review, 103: 2, 147–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sniderman, P. M. and Hagen, M. G. (1985), Race and Inequality: A Study in American Values, Chatham, NJ: Chatham House.Google Scholar
Soroka, S. N., Johnston, R. and Banting, K. (2007), ‘Ethnicity, trust, and the welfare state’, in Kay, F. and Johnston, R. (eds.), Social Capital, Diversity, and the Welfare State, Vancouver, British Columbia: UBS Press.Google Scholar
Svallfors, S. (1997), ‘Worlds of welfare and attitudes to redistribution: a comparison of eight western nations’, European Sociological Review, 13: 3, 283–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Svallfors, S. (2004), ‘Class, attitudes and the welfare state: Sweden in comparative perspective’, Social Policy and Administration, 38: 2, 119–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tamir, Y. (1993), Liberal Nationalism, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor-Gooby, P. (2011), ‘Opportunity and solidarity’, Journal of Social Policy, 40: 3, 453–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tocqueville, A. de. (2001 [1835–40]), Democracy in America, New York: Signet Classics.Google Scholar