Acta Sociologica

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Edlund, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Acta Sociologica, Vol. 49, No. 4, 395-417 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0001699306071681

Trust in the Capability of the Welfare State and General Welfare State Support: Sweden 1997-2002

Jonas Edlund

Department of Sociology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

A central component of institutional trust is related to perceptions of state capacity. Claims have been made that if citizens’ experiences with the state tell them that the government is efficacious, fair and trustworthy, then the odds for supporting publicly financed welfare policies are higher compared to a situation when their experiences with government feed feelings of inefficiency, corruption, unfairness and arbitrary discretion. The general question guiding the empirical analysis is the following: Is distrust in institutional capability an important prerequisite for general welfare state support withdrawal? Relying on Swedish nationally representative survey data, this issue is examined using Latent Class Analysis (LCA). Empirical evidence suggests that distrust in the institutional capability of the welfare state has not translated into widespread anti-welfare state sentiments. For some citizens, distrust in the capability of the welfare state is an issue of insufficient resources and they are willing to increase social spending in order to improve social services and benefits. For other citizens, distrust is closely connected with anti-welfare state sentiments. The article discusses the implications of the results for arguments about institutional trust and welfare state support.

Key Words: institutional capability • political attitudes • political trust • public opinion • Sweden • welfare state


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?