Abstract
This chapter explores to what degree public opinion, particularly specific social groups including social classes, retirees, members of trade unions, and supporters of political parties, defend the status quo or are willing to support reforms. It distinguishes two major dimensions of pension-specific attitudes, retrenchment and redistribution. Using data from the 2008 European Social Survey, the study compares two countries with different pension systems, organized interests, and party systems: Britain and Germany. Our results show pronounced cross-national differences in attitudes towards the redistributive character of the pensions system but less variation with regard to retrenchment of pension benefits. Political affiliations show also more variation than social classes, indicating that ideological alignment is more pronounced than social class.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
We exclude respondents still in education and do not split up retirees into early retired and “regularly” retired people. The rate of early retirement before age 65 is high for women in Britain (normal retirement at age 60, but 65 for men), and medium-high but declining for men and women in Germany (phased-in increases in pre-retirement since the mid-1990s).
- 2.
2.6 per cent of the respondents chose a fourth answer “none of these”. We ignore this as a negligible percentage of respondents by analysing these responses as missing.
References
Alber, J. 1984. Versorgungsklassen im Wohlfahrtsstaat. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 36: 225–251.
Andreß, H., and T. Heien. 2001. Four worlds of welfare state attitudes? A comparison of Germany, Norway, and the United States. European Sociological Review 17 (4): 337–356.
Arts, W., and J. Gelissen. 2001. Welfare states, solidarity and justice principles. Does the type really matter? Acta Sociologica 44 (4): 283–299.
Blekesaune, M., and J. Quadagno. 2003. Public attitudes toward welfare state policies. A comparative analysis of 24 nations. European Sociological Review 19 (5): 415–427.
Bonoli, G., and D. Natali, eds. 2012. The politics of the new welfare state. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brooks, C., and J. Manza. 2008. Why welfare states persist. The importance of public opinion in democracies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
———. 2013. A broken public? Americans’ response to the great recession. American Sociological Review 78 (5): 727–748.
Busemeyer, M.R., A. Goerres, and S. Weschle. 2009. Attitudes towards redistributive spending in an era of demographic ageing. The rival pressures from age and income in 14 OECD countries. Journal of European Social Policy 19 (3): 195–212.
Ebbinghaus, B. 2010. Unions and employers. In The Oxford handbook of the welfare state, ed. F.G. Castles, S. Leibfried, J. Lewis, H. Obinger, and C. Pierson. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———., ed. 2011. Varieties of pension governance. The privatization of pensions in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ebbinghaus, B., and J. Neugschwender. 2011. The public-private pension mix and old age income inequality. In Varieties of pension governance. the privatization of pensions in Europe, ed. B. Ebbinghaus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Edlund, J. 1999. Trust in government and welfare regimes. Attitudes to redistribution and financial cheating in the USA and Norway. European Journal of Political Research 35 (3): 341–370.
Esping-Andersen, G. 1990. The three worlds of welfare capitalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Fernandez, J.J., and A.M. Jaime-Castillo. 2013. Positive or negative policy feedbacks? Explaining popular attitudes towards pragmatic pension policy reforms. European Sociological Review 29 (4): 803–815.
Gelissen, J. 2001. Old-age pensions. Individual or collective responsibility? An investigation of public opinion across European welfare states. European Societies 3 (4): 495–523.
Häusermann, S. 2010. The politics of welfare state reform in continental Europe. Modernization in hard times. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hinrichs, K., and M. Jessoula. 2012. Labour market flexibility and pension reforms. Flexible today, secure tomorrow? Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.
Iversen, T., and D. Soskice. 2001. An asset theory of social policy preferences. American Political Science Review 95 (4): 875–893.
Jæger, M.M. 2006. Welfare regimes and attitudes towards redistribution. The regime hypothesis revisited. European Sociological Review 22 (2): 157–170.
Jensen, C. 2012. Labour market- versus life course-related social policies: Understanding cross-programme differences. Journal of European Public Policy 19 (2): 275–291.
Jensen, C., and E. Naumann. 2016. Increasing pressures and support for public healthcare in Europe. Health Policy 120 (6): 698–705.
Kitschelt, H., and P. Rehm. 2006. New social risk and political preferences. In The politics of post-industrial welfare states. Adapting post-war social policies to new social risks, ed. K. Armingeon and G. Bonoli. London: Routledge.
Korpi, W. 1983. The democratic class struggle. London: Routledge.
Larsen, C.A. 2008. The institutional logic of welfare attitudes. How welfare regimes influence public support. Comparative Political Studies 41 (2): 145–168.
Lepsius, M.R. 1990. Soziale Ungleichheit und Klassenstrukturen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. In Ideen, Interessen und Institutionen, ed. R.M. Lepsius. Opladen: Campus.
Linos, K., and M. West. 2003. Self-interest, social beliefs, and attitudes to redistribution. Re-addressing the issue of cross-national variation. European Sociological Review 19 (4): 393–409.
Lynch, J., and M. Myrskylä. 2009. Always the third rail? Pension income and policy preferences in European democracies. Comparative Political Studies 42 (8): 1068–1097.
Marshall, T.H. 1950. Citizenship and social class. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mau, S. 2004. Welfare regimes and the norms of social exchange. Current Sociology 52 (1): 53–74.
Meltzer, A.H., and S.F. Richard. 1981. A rational theory of the size of government. Journal of Political Economy 89 (5): 914–927.
Myles, J., and P. Pierson. 2001. The comparative political economy of pension reform. In The new politics of the welfare state, ed. P. Pierson. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Naumann, E., M. Hess, and L. Steinkopf. 2015. Die Alterung der Gesellschaft und der Generationenkonflikt in Europa/Aging Societies and Intergenerational Conflict in Europe. Zeitschrift für Soziologie 44 (6): 426–446.
Oesch, D. 2006. Redrawing the class map. Stratification and institutions in Britain, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.
Oesch, D., and J.R. Menes. 2011. Upgrading or polarization? Occupational change in Britain, Germany, Spain and Switzerland, 1990–2008. Socio-Economic Review 9 (3): 503–532.
Pierson, P. 2001a. Investigating the welfare state at century’s end (Introduction). In The new politics of the welfare state, ed. P. Pierson. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———., ed. 2001b. The new politics of the welfare state. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Roller, E. 1995. The welfare state. The equality dimension. In The scope of government, ed. O. Borre and E. Scarbrough. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rueda, D. 2005. Insider–outsider politics in industrialized democracies. The challenge to social democratic parties. American Political Science Review 99 (1): 61–74.
Sainsbury, D. 1996. Gender, equality and welfare states. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schwander, H., and S. Häusermann. 2013. Who is in and who is out? A risk-based conceptualization of insiders and outsiders. Journal of European Social Policy 23 (3): 248–269.
Svallfors, S. 1997. Worlds of welfare and attitudes to redistribution. A comparison of eight western nations. European Sociological Review 13 (3): 283–304.
Walker, A. 1999. Political participation and representation of older people in Europe. In The politics of old age in Europe, ed. A. Walker and G. Naegele. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Weaver, R.K. 1986. The politics of blame avoidance. Journal of Public Policy 6 (4): 371–398.
Wendt, C., M. Mischke, and M. Pfeifer. 2011. Welfare states and public opinion. Perceptions of healthcare systems, family policy and benefits for the unemployed and poor in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ebbinghaus, B., Naumann, E. (2018). Class, Union, or Party Allegiance? Comparing Pension Reform Preferences in Britain and Germany. In: Ebbinghaus, B., Naumann, E. (eds) Welfare State Reforms Seen from Below. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63652-8_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63652-8_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63651-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63652-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)