Public Opinion and Social Policy

Abstract

An investigation of public opinion and social policy. This dissertation looks at how attitudes toward social welfare policies are formed, and their reciprocal relationship with spending on welfare. The perspective is cross-national and looks at the most advanced democracies in the world, plus two formerly Communist countries. The dissertation utilizes theoretical frameworks from sociology, social psychology and political science. It concludes that self-interest, group dynamics and ideology are driving forces behind opinion and attitude formation, although ideology may be even more important. Also, that social norms related to Communism or socialism, individualism and corporatism shape public opinions. Finally, it concludes that although public opinion probably has an impact on social policy, this does not appear to be a general impact across democratic societies. Instead, institutional norms align opinion and policy into a cross-national pattern. The stability of social spending indicates that path dependency of policy impacts the otherwise erratic nature of public opinion.