Exploring Public Attitudes to Welfare over the Longue Durée: Re-examination of Survey Evidence from Beveridge, Beatlemania, Blair and Beyond
Exploring Public Attitudes to Welfare over the Longue Durée: Re-examination of Survey Evidence from Beveridge, Beatlemania, Blair and Beyond
复制标题
探索公众对长期福利的态度：重新审视贝弗里奇、披头士狂热、布莱尔等人的调查证据
DOI：
10.1111/spol.12256
复制
发表时间：
2016
影响因子：
3.2
通讯作者：
Hudson J
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hudson J
人们普遍认为，在英国，公众对福利国家的支持正在长期下降。英国社会态度调查（BSA）的证据通常被引用来支持这一说法，但它只追溯到1983年。很少有人会不同意，撒切尔时代提供了一个不寻常的社会政治经济背景，这就提出了一个问题，即BSA的20世纪80年代初的基线是否提供了一个误导性的观点，支持福利国家在长期的持续时间。在这篇文章中，我们探讨这个问题，拼凑从贝弗里奇时代到今天的数据，从当代的研究和调查数据;民意调查;和历史政府调查和报告。我们的方法无疑是一种“次佳方法”，它利用的往往是有限的历史数据，这意味着我们在提供大胆的发现时仍然保持谨慎。然而，我们认为，有一些证据表明，20世纪80年代是一个不寻常的时刻，这表明对福利的支持下降并不像BSA的分析那样戏剧性，但在战后共识年对福利国家的支持可能比我们通常认为的更模棱两可从今天的角度来看，也许反映了一种倾向，将这一时期具体化为福利的“黄金时代”，从而低估了前BSA时期社会政策政治的复杂性。
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.