Welfare or Workfare? : A quantitative study of welfare attitudes comparing universalism and labour market related determinants in a Nordic welfare context.

This thesis investigates how labour market status and values related to universalistic and workfare principles influence redistribution attitudes in the Nordic welfare states. In light of increasing conditionality and activation measures in labour market politics, this study analyses how these determinants affect support for state responsibility and income equalisation. Guided by self-interest theory and social justice theory, it seeks to understand the role of workfare in shaping public opinion within welfare states that adopt the traditionally univeralistic Nordic model. Using cross-sectional survey data from the European Values Study (EVS) across four Nordic countries and conducting hierarchical multiple regression analyses, the study compares the influence of labour market status, income and value-based determinants on redistribution attitudes. The results show signs of self-interest in shaping these attitudes but that universalistic values remain the strongest predictor, followed by workfare values. While labour market status is linked to these attitudes, individuals’ income level plays a stronger role for all labour market groups except the disabled category which consistently supported extensive redistribution despite value orientation whereas the employed showed less support. These findings indicate that workfare values shape public opinion and that groups experiencing greater need for income redistribution support it more strongly, but that mere labour market status is not yet a powerful indicator of such vulnerability. Hence, universalism continues to be a driving force for redistribution preferences in the Nordic welfare states.