Self-Serving Welfare Support? - An empirical assessment of the statist individualism hypothesis

Sammanfattning

This thesis contributes to the ongoing scholarly debate about the relation of individual freedom and the Swedish welfare state. The point of departure is the theory of statist individualism, as propounded by Berggren & Trägårdh, which this paper intends to quantitatively assess through individual level proxies. The research utilizes European Social Survey data from 2016 in order to create three separate measures of welfare support which are analyzed through multiple regression models. These are coupled with Schwartz's theory of basic values, employed in order to approximate the core arguments of statist individualism. Subsequently, the models are refined through the inclusion of interaction terms and a robustness check incorporating Esping-Andersen's welfare regime typology. Thereafter, the results of the models are referred back to statist individualism, and their implications on the theory are assessed. The findings provide no support for the central expectations of statist individualism at the individual level. No evidence is found suggesting that autonomy structures welfare attitudes in a uniquely positive way in Sweden, nor that welfare support can be sustained independently of solidaristic value orientations. Instead, the significant interaction effects that are identified run counter to the theoretical expectations of statist individualism, thereby casting some doubt on the explanatory power of the concept.