Why Welfare States Persist
Subtitle: The Importance of Public Opinion in Democracies (Studies in Communication, Media, and Public Opinion)
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Published: May 15, 2007
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 204
ISBN-13: 9780226075839
Subjects: Public opinion & polls; Social welfare & social services; Social Science; Politics / Current Events; Sociology; Government - Comparative; Public Policy - Social Policy; Public Policy - Social Services & Welfare; Social Science / Sociology / General; Sociology - General; Public opinion; Welfare state
Description: The world's richer democracies all provide such public benefits as pensions and health care, but why are some far more generous than others? And why, in the face of globalization and fiscal pressures, has the welfare state not been replaced by another model? Reconsidering the myriad issues raised by such pressing questions, Clem Brooks and Jeff Manza contend here that public opinion has been an important, yet neglected, factor in shaping welfare states in recent decades. Analyzing data on sixteen countries, Brooks and Manza find that the preferences of citizens profoundly influence the welfare policies of their governments and the behavior of politicians in office. Shaped by slow-moving forces such as social institutions and collective memories, these preferences have counteracted global pressures that many commentators assumed would lead to the welfare state's demise. Moreover, Brooks and Manza show that cross-national differences in popular support help explain why Scandinavian social democracies offer so much more than liberal democracies such as the United States and the United Kingdom. Significantly expanding our understanding of both public opinion and social policy in the world's most developed countries, this landmark study will be essential reading for scholars of political economy, public opinion, and democratic theory.