Cross-class solidarity in times of crisis: the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on support for redistribution

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_38A147CB035E
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Cross-class solidarity in times of crisis: the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on support for redistribution
Journal
Journal of European Social Policy
Author(s)
Simone Tonelli, Eloisa Harris, Franziska Deeg
ISSN
0958-9287
1461-7269
Publication state
Published
Issued date
09/09/2024
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Language
english
Abstract
<jats:p> This study investigates how the economic crisis associated with the COVID-19 pandemic impacted support for social assistance in Germany. We formulate our expectations drawing from the classical political economy literature on self-interest and the burgeoning research on the role of solidarity. On the one hand, we hypothesize that only low-income individuals impacted economically by COVID-19, who can benefit from social assistance, will support its expansion. On the other hand, we expect higher-income individuals affected economically by COVID-19 to be more supportive of social assistance, even though they do not benefit from it, and less likely to consider welfare recipients ‘undeserving’ compared to higher-income individuals not economically affected by the pandemic. We argue that first-hand crisis experiences update people’s beliefs about how luck impacts one’s economic situation in the presence of an exogenous shock. We combine observational and experimental data from an original survey collected in Germany in April 2021 to test our expectations. On average, low-income respondents appear to be the most vigorous supporters of social assistance, but their support is not conditional on their experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, we find that the support for more social assistance among affluent individuals depends on the economic impact of the pandemic. We experimentally manipulated the deservingness of welfare recipients and found that better-off respondents impacted by the pandemic were less likely to penalize even the most ‘undeserving’ welfare beneficiaries. We suggest that solidarity between classes in hard times may occur through a convergence of the deservingness perception among individuals. The article has broader implications for studying the effect of crises on solidarity and the conditional nature of class-based explanations for support for different welfare policies. </jats:p>
Create date
01/10/2024 9:39
Last modification date
02/10/2024 6:06
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