Exploring Public Attitudes to Welfare over the Longue Durée: Re-examination of Survey Evidence from Beveridge, Beatlemania, Blair and Beyond

TY - JOUR

T1 - Exploring Public Attitudes to Welfare over the Longue Durée

T2 - Re-examination of Survey Evidence from Beveridge, Beatlemania, Blair and Beyond

AU - Hudson, John Robert

AU - Lunt, Neil

AU - Hamilton, Charlotte Marie

AU - Meers, Jed Graham

AU - MacKinder, Sophia Constance

AU - Swift, Chelsea

N1 - © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details

PY - 2016/10/5

Y1 - 2016/10/5

N2 - It is commonly argued that public support for the welfare state is in long-term decline in the UK. Evidence from the British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA) is typically cited to support this claim, but it only stretches back to 1983. Few would disagree that the Thatcher years offered an unusual socio-political-economic context, which raises a question over whether the BSA's early 1980s baseline provides a misleading view on support for the welfare state over the longue durée. In this article, we explore this issue, piecing together data from the Beveridge era through to the present day, drawing on data from contemporary studies and surveys; opinion polls; and historical government surveys and reports. Our method is undoubtedly a ‘second best approach’, making use of often limited historical data, which means we remain cautious in offering bold findings. However, we argue there is some evidence to suggest the 1980s were an unusual moment, suggesting the decline in support for welfare is less dramatic than analysis of the BSA might make it seem, but also that support for the welfare state during the postwar consensus years was likely more equivocal than we often believe it to be from today's perspective, perhaps reflecting a tendency to reify this period as a ‘golden age’ of welfare and so underplaying the complexity of the politics of social policy in the pre-BSA period.

AB - It is commonly argued that public support for the welfare state is in long-term decline in the UK. Evidence from the British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA) is typically cited to support this claim, but it only stretches back to 1983. Few would disagree that the Thatcher years offered an unusual socio-political-economic context, which raises a question over whether the BSA's early 1980s baseline provides a misleading view on support for the welfare state over the longue durée. In this article, we explore this issue, piecing together data from the Beveridge era through to the present day, drawing on data from contemporary studies and surveys; opinion polls; and historical government surveys and reports. Our method is undoubtedly a ‘second best approach’, making use of often limited historical data, which means we remain cautious in offering bold findings. However, we argue there is some evidence to suggest the 1980s were an unusual moment, suggesting the decline in support for welfare is less dramatic than analysis of the BSA might make it seem, but also that support for the welfare state during the postwar consensus years was likely more equivocal than we often believe it to be from today's perspective, perhaps reflecting a tendency to reify this period as a ‘golden age’ of welfare and so underplaying the complexity of the politics of social policy in the pre-BSA period.

KW - Public attitudes to welfare

KW - Public opinion

KW - Social attitudes

KW - Welfare state

UR - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1asYhG3OYJfhsp-RaAhlBDUDFUQjfqcRUB1jY4d40dc8/edit

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84989895477&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/spol.12256

DO - 10.1111/spol.12256

M3 - Article

SN - 1467-9515

VL - 50

SP - 691

EP - 711

JO - Social Policy and Administration

JF - Social Policy and Administration

IS - 6

ER -