The poor “sociological imagination” of the rich: Explaining attitudinal divergence towards welfare,inequality, and redistribution

Quantitative research has tended to explain attitudinal divergence towards welfare and redistribution through self‐interested rationalities. However, such an approach risks abstracting individuals from the structural determinants of resource allocation and biographical experience. With that in mind, this article draws on a qualitative study of 50 individuals experiencing relative deprivation and affluence in the United Kingdom and New Zealand to examine how lived experiences of inequality affect attitude formation towards welfare and redistribution. Scenario‐driven vignettes were used to stimulate an applied discussion of abstract principles pertaining to welfare and inequality. Use of this methodological device proffered novel insight into the phenomenological effects of material position on public attitudes and policy preferences in a comparative context. The findings suggest that affluent individuals are less likely to acknowledge systemic features shaping socioeconomic life. As a result, they exhibit a poor sociological imagination that is deployed in distinct and patterned ways to make sense of, and at times justify, economic restructuring. By contrast, those living in relative deprivation are more likely to advance accounts of intergroup relations and social location that emphasize the structuration of (dis‐)advantage. Based on the findings, policy and political implications are considered for welfare and redistribution amidst rising structural inequality.     

Process over outcome: How perceptions of procedural fairness influence conservative support for redistributive taxes

Though majorities of Americans express support for redistributive tax policies as a cure for income inequality in the United States, this general support tends to dissipate when the public evaluates their support for specific proposals. The dominant explanations emphasize elite behavior and the disconnect between American values and political representation. An alternative view is that this counter-intuitive finding is entirely consistent with individual values. Some people place higher priority on policy processes than policy outcomes. This paper demonstrates that conservatives think about redistributive tax policy differently than liberals. Conservative support (opposition) for redistributive taxes is based on evaluations of the fairness of processes of government that lead to economic inequality. When conservatives believe that these processes are not fair, they are very supportive of wealth redistribution as a cure for economic inequality, whereas liberal support for wealth redistribution is more outcome-dependent.     

Concern about the rise of lazy welfare queens? An empirical explanation of the underdevelopment of the redistributive welfare system in South Korea

This study investigates why South Korea has maintained a minimalist welfare state with little redistribution of income. Inspired by the behavioral/attitudinal approach of Alesina and his colleagues, this study focuses on the perception that people who do not work become lazy. This belief is related to the anti-welfare sentiment that non-working benefits encourage laziness. This study shows that perceptions of work and laziness are associated with preferences for redistribution, not only among South Koreans, but also among individuals in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries. Further, such perceptions are also associated with the redistribution policies chosen in a country. This study provides evidence that societal beliefs about work and laziness, along with several other political and economic factors, such as pre-tax income inequality, political institutions, and union density, may explain the small-scale redistribution in South Korea.     

The Political Consequences of Outsider Labour Market Status in the United States: A Micro‐level Study

This article contributes to recent research that seeks to understand the political consequences of ‘outsider’ labour market status. There is an emerging consensus that labour market outsiders have systematically different policy preferences and display systematically different political behaviour to securely employed ‘insiders’ in Europe. Yet the political consequences of outsider status in the USA are less clear. They may be expected to differ from those that have been documented in the European context, because: (1) the USA is characterized by low employment protection of insiders; and (2) there is evidence that Americans are more reluctant than Europeans to hold governments responsible for personal economic hardship. We therefore use the General Social Survey to examine how outsider labour market status is related to voting behaviour and to social policy preferences in the USA. We find that the concept of ‘labour market outsider’ – as conventionally operationalized – holds little explanatory power in the American context. Disaggregating the outsider category, our results suggest that the political consequences of outsider labour market status may be contingent on individual beliefs about government responsibility.     

Caste and Distributive Justice: Can Social Policy Address Durable Inequalities?

This article examines the impact of social policy interventions on caste inequalities. The article accepts the proposition by Charles Tilly that durable inequalities are entrenched solutions while addressing organizational problems of society. The political economy approach to caste enables us to understand how the discriminatory practices around caste are durable. The article examines two types of social policies set up to deal with caste discrimination. The first type of policies are particularistic policies which directly address the concerns of the members of the depressed castes. The second type of policies are aimed at the general population, but from which a large number of depressed caste members benefit. The article concludes that both types of policies have only an ameliorative function rather than an emancipation role. It is argued here that ‘social policy’ in the context of durable inequality requires redefinition to include political interventions. The administrative view of social policy focuses heavily on the state, and in the context of durable inequality, the legitimacy of the state itself is in question. On the other hand, mobilization around politics addresses the organizational anomaly of the society, which is at the root of durable inequality.     

Who Wants to Redistribute? An Analysis of 14 Post‐Soviet Nations

We investigate population groups' attitude regarding inequality reduction in post‐Soviet transitional countries of the Baltic, Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as the Slavic countries and Moldova. Empirical evidence presented in this article demonstrates that despite skyrocketing inequality, erosion of social provisions and efforts to introduce an individualistic market economy ideology during the last 15 years, overall support for redistribution and welfare state efforts to counterbalance rising inequality remained strongly legitimized among citizens in all post‐Soviet countries. Nevertheless, there are differences between population groups in attitude: the older, the less educated, the poor and women express more support for redistribution; while the younger, the better educated, the rich and men tend to not support redistribution. Populations in transitional countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia that face higher inequality and less effective redistribution policies expressed a strong desire for more redistribution and more active social welfare policies.     

A note on decisions under uncertainty: the impact of the choice of the welfare measure

The paper addresses the question, how policy decisions under uncertainty depend on the underlying welfare concept. We study three different welfare measures: The first is directly based on the ex ante (expected) utility of a representative consumer whereas the second relies on an ex ante and the third on an ex post valuation of policy changes compared to the status quo. We show that decisions based on these measures coincide if and only if risk-neutral expected utility maximization is applied. Differences between the decisions are analyzed for both, risk-averse expected utility maximization and the MaxiMin criterion. For risk-averse decision makers, differences between the first and the second concept arise if the absolute risk-aversion of the decision maker is not constant in income. For risk-aversion and the MaxiMin criterion, the effort levels to provide a public good based on an optimization of ex post utility changes exceed those based on the first or second concept. Implications for environmental policy decisions based on the concepts of abatement costs and benefits from abatement are discussed.     

平等主义国家理想与区隔主义官僚体系：一个社会分层结构的新模型

通过重新分析“再分配”的概念,本文跳出以往社会主义国家社会分层研究中,对于精英与普通民众区隔的过分关注,提出了一个新的社会分层模型。本文认为,社会主义社会的分层结构是由平等主义（egalitarian）国家理想与区隔主义（particularistic）官僚体系间的矛盾所决定的。1 再分配本身并不产生不平等,而是再分配过程中的官僚及官僚政治行为造成了社会主义的社会不平等。与再分配中心的距离远近不仅决定了在再分配体系中的地位高低,也决定了遭受官僚政治影响的程度大小。在社会转型时期,基层官僚在再分配时期的优势将进一步继续,而整个社会分层结构上的差异也将逐步扩大。     

Cooperative Institutions and Inequality in the OECD: Bringing the Firm Back In*

Objective. To examine the relationship between firm‐level cooperation, inequality, and redistribution in 18 advanced industrialized democracies. Methods. The relationships are investigated using multiple regression analyses of institutional, political, and economic variables. Results. Multilevel models reveal that contrary to neocorporatism, firm‐level cooperative ties have significant inegalitarian effects, particularly in the distribution of pretax, pretransfer market income. The effects, however, are also felt in the distribution of posttax, posttransfer income. Conclusion. By paying attention to the effect of firm‐level cooperation, the study sheds new light on inequality in the OECD as a result of both market‐based and nonmarket coordination.     

Social Exclusion, Inequality and Social Work

This paper sets out the environment of inequality in which social work and the poor have recently operated. It explores pragmatic and idealist arguments concerning whether or not the poor need social work. Finally, policy solutions developed in consultation with social service users and carers are suggested in relation to poverty and social exclusion. Social exclusion can be linked to relative poverty as exclusion from economic and social norms. However, there is a wider brief in our own government’s publications and those of Europe, of examining how people are excluded from actions and policies of agencies who are there to support them. This paper will retain the concepts of poverty as lack of material income, and inequality as the gap between the rich and the poor, while being aware of the policy implications for social service users and carers of the more comprehensive process of being shut out partially or fully from social, economic, political and cultural systems. The debates around social work, social exclusion and inequality that follow establish: that some of the poor do need social work; that the poverty of social service users is related to policies that have restructured welfare in Britain; that the reason for individuals approaching or being referred to social services are complex but are likely to include financial deprivation as a key contributory factor; that if the poor do need social work, advocacy is essential rather than social work being seen as concerned only with social control—taking children into care, mentally ill people into hospitals, and advising the DSS on the suitability of claimants for benefits. Finally, the discussion turns to new policy agendas on social exclusion instigated by the Labour government. What positive difference can such policies make for social service users, their carers and social workers?.     

Linking taxation and social protection: Evidence on redistribution and poverty reduction in Ethiopia

Although redistribution results from the simultaneous effects of taxes and transfers, analyses of their distributional effects in low‐income countries have largely been undertaken from singular perspectives. This article jointly assesses the distributional effect of taxes and transfers (through social protection) using Ethiopia as a case study. We find that Ethiopia's flagship social protection programme is more effective than income taxation in achieving poverty reduction, while neither policy achieves a sizeable reduction in overall inequality. We also find that Ethiopia does not currently have the capacity to close the poverty gap or to fully fund its main safety net programme using domestic income sources alone.     

Thinking for themselves? The effect of informant independence on children's endorsement of testimony from a consensus

Testimony agreement across a number of people can be a reassuring sign of a claim's reliability. However, reliability may be undermined if informants do not respond independently. In this case, social consensus may be a result of indiscriminate copying or conformity and does not necessarily reflect shared knowledge or opinion. We examined children's emerging sensitivity to consensus independence by testing whether it affected their judgements in a social learning context. Children ages 5, 6, and 8–9 years (N = 92), and 20 adults for comparison received conflicting testimony about an unfamiliar country from two consensual groups of informants: An independent group who responded privately and a nonindependent group who had access to each other's answers. We found increasing levels of trust in independent consensus with age. Adults and 8–9‐year olds preferred to accept the claims of the independent consensus, whereas 5‐year olds favored the claims of the nonindependent consensus and 6‐year olds were mixed. Although previous work has shown that children trust a consensus over a lone dissenter as young as 2 years, the developmental shift in this study indicates that children's reasoning about the nature of consensus and what makes it reliable continues to develop throughout middle childhood.     

Price controls, trade protectionism and political business cycles in the U.S. steel industry

The U.S. steel industry is subject to a microeconomic political business cycle resulting from U.S. Presidents designing protectionist policies on behalf of the steel industry; experiencing complaints from consumers and foreign producers as a result of the policy; modifying the policy which results in complaints from the steel industry; and finally, maneuvering policy back in favor of the industry to achieve re-election. Using a cointegrating vector error correction framework, this paper tests the hypothesized political business cycle for its effect on steel prices. We find that trade protectionism does not seem to have succeeded in its primary objective of supporting prices. By expending so much political capital on ineffective trade protection, the steel industry may have lost the opportunity to focus on more substantive issues that might have restrained factor cost and enhanced its competitive ability. The devolution of the steel industry, ironically, may have resulted from it's persistent pleas for protection. Political business cycles in the steel industry, with all its attendant negative consequences, would not occur if the steel industry did not continually lobby for protection.     

Nonparametric modelling of biodiversity: Determinants of threatened species

This study uses a sample of 71 countries and nonparametric quantile and partial regressions to model a number of threatened species (reptiles, mammals, fish, birds, trees, plants) in relation to various economic and environmental variables (GDPc, CO₂ emissions, agricultural production, energy intensity, protected areas, population and income inequality). From the analysis and due to high asymmetric distribution of the dependent variables it seems that a linear regression is not adequate and cannot capture properly the dimension of the threatened species. We find that using OLS instead of non-parametric techniques over- or under-estimates the parameters which may have serious policy implications.     

Perceptions of inequality and attitudes towards redistribution in four East Asian welfare states

This study examined the effects of perceived economic inequality and inequality of opportunity on individual preferences for redistributive policies among people in mainland China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Using data from the 2009 International Social Survey Program, a series of regression analyses were performed. Results of the analyses indicate that perceived economic inequality is the most significant predictive factor of attitudes towards redistribution in all four states. Perceived inequality of opportunity was positively associated with favourable attitudes towards redistribution in mainland China and South Korea. Perceived socioeconomic status was not found to have a significant effect on attitudes towards redistribution in South Korea.     

Business Mobilization and Public Policy in the U.S. States*

Objective. The goal of this study is to examine how the political mobilization of business interests influences aggregate public policy outputs in the states. We examine the relationship between business mobilization and general state policy liberalism, as well as policy that we term state “business policy climate.” Methods. We construct a measure of the “business policy climate” from a number of tax and regulatory indicators in the states and examine whether business influences it and policy liberalism using ordinary least squares regression. Results. The analysis shows that business mobilization does not influence general policy liberalism but is a significant influence on a state's business policy climate. Specifically, the dominance of a state's campaign finance system by business interests makes policy more favorable toward business. Conclusions. The extent of business mobilization in a state is an important influence on public policy outputs but is constrained by the activities of other political actors such as unions.     

Socioeconomic status,perceived inequality of opportunity,and attitudes toward redistribution

Previous research suggests that an individual’s socioeconomic status (SES) is negatively associated with attitudes toward redistributive policies. The objective of this study is to examine whether the relationship between an individual’s subjective SES and his or her attitudes toward redistribution is contingent upon perceptions of inequality of opportunity. A series of multilevel analyses was performed using data from 28 countries from the 2009 International Social Survey Program (ISSP). Results revealed that the relationship between individual SES and attitudes toward redistribution was weaker among individuals who more strongly believed that success lies beyond the control of individuals. Shared perceptions of inequality of opportunity at the country level were also significant. The relationship between SES and attitudes toward redistribution was weaker in countries with higher levels of public perceptions of inequality of opportunity. In conclusion, people commensurately support redistribution policies (even contrary to their own self-interest) as they recognize the significance of inequality of opportunity. The greater the support among people for redistribution against their self-interest, the weaker the social cleavage in attitudes toward redistribution across different SES strata, and the higher the overall level of support for redistribution in society.     

The potential power of social policy programmes: income redistribution,economic resources and health

Lundberg O, Fritzell J, Åberg Yngwe M, Kölegård ML. The potential power of social policy programmes: income redistribution, economic resources and health Int J Soc Welfare 2010: ??: ??–??© 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. This Supplement includes a number of articles dealing with the role of social policy schemes for public health across the life course. As a key social determinant of health, poverty and its consequences have historically been at the forefront of the public health discussion. But also in rich countries today, economic resources are likely to be important for health and survival, both on an individual and an aggregate level. This introductory article serves as a background for the more specific analyses that follow. The focus is on why income and income inequality could have an effect on individual and population health. We discuss relationships between the individual and population levels and between income and health, and some of the possible mechanisms involved. We also present arguments for why welfare state institutions may matter.     

Events,Politics and Patterns of Policy‐Making: Impact of Major Incidents on Health Sector Regulatory Reforms in the UK and Japan

This article examines the major malpractice incidents in the late 1990s through early 2000s in the UK and Japan, comparing how these incidents opened up pathways for a new type of hospital regulation in each case. Applying John Kingdon's three‐stream model of agenda‐setting and policy change, the article argues that governance arrangements as well as the policy instruments that a government has at its disposal determine how an event could be translated into a political agenda by throwing light on the problems within the public domain. The long‐term effect of such adverse events is therefore determined by how open the relevant institutional arrangements are, and is enhanced if actors constantly scrutinize the system by proactively setting the agenda. A higher level of political accountability in the UK led to British politicians taking a greater role in promoting patient‐led reforms than Japanese counterparts. However, a political system with clear accountability is more conscious of its own involvement and any potential blame it might receive for policy failures. Therefore, the political class could become more engaged in continuous reforms and the delegation of tasks rather than a constant search for remedial actions. The article sheds light on the interactive aspects of the particular triggering events discussed through the decade of regulatory developments in the two health‐care systems.