Grenzen aan solidariteit in de verzorgingsstaat

Abstract

The last decades Europe has had to face increasing levels of immigration, which causes several problems. This growing ethnic diversity can undermine the interethnic solidarity in the context of the welfare state. Many studies show that lower educated people have more negative attitudes towards ethnic minorities than the higher educated. This paper aims to find out if there is a negative relation between level of education and the degree of welfare chauvinism. This relation is investigated based on three explanations: perceptions of ethnic diversity, perceptions of violations of reciprocity and interethnic egalitarianism. The research made use of data of the WESTUS survey wave 1 and 3 (2014/2015), representative for the Dutch native population (n=1,357). The results only show a significant effect on the degree of welfare chauvinism related to the education level MBO (vs. primary education). There is no relation for the other levels of education. Perceptions of ethnic diversity seem to have a mediating influence, but this is not the case for perceptions of violations of reciprocity and interethnic egalitarianism. However, the study confirmed that the higher the perceptions of violations of reciprocity, the higher the degree of welfare chauvinism.