Public Attitudes Toward Family Policies In Welfare Regimes

Family policies have gained tremendous importance in recent years. Yet family policy developments vary substantially across welfare states. This paper examines public attitudes toward family policies among 11 welfare states as a result of both situational factors (e.g. unemployment, and female labor-force participation), and ideological factors (e.g. egalitarian ideology and traditional gender role). The paper analyzes those factors at both individual and national level. using the European Social Survey (ESS) round 4 (2008-09) data. The study sample includes responses from eleven countries which represent four regimes under Esping-Andersen’s (1999) typology: Social democratic, Continental Europe, Liberal  and Southern Europe.  Multiple regression models reveal both institutional and ideological factors play a role in shaping public attitudes toward family policies. Preliminary results show that national level egalitarian ideology and traditional views are two of most significant factors associated with public attitudes toward family policies (with B coefficients .54 and -.34, respectively).