The cultural context of welfare distribution: a description and explanation of public attitudes towards social protection of needy groups in European welfare states

The project?s aim is to contribute to a cultural understanding of welfare distribution over needy groups, by describing and explaining public images of needy groups, and perceptions of these groups? relative welfare deservingness among the populations of European welfare states. Explanations involve structural factors (related to people?s self-interest) and cultural factors (related to people?s wider social values and beliefs) at the individual- and country-level. The project analyses European comparative data (EVS, ISSP, ESS, Eurobarometer surveys, and data from the Welfare Opinions Surveys 2006. Techniques of analyses are descriptive and explanatory, including multi-level analyses.