The Effects of Communicating Pressures a Comparative Experimental Study of Reform Pressure Framing on Citizens Perceptions of Welfare State Sustainability in Germany, Norway and Sweden

A growing body of research emphasizes the “reform strategies” that actors employ in order to make  welfare state policy change palatable to the public. In this paper we contribute to this development by analyzing effects of reform pressure framing on welfare state perceptions and attitudes in the context of three different welfare states: Germany, Norway and Sweden. Will citizens perceptions of welfare state sustainability change when they are exposed to information about the pressures on the welfare state? Past research has often focused on either framing of narrow material self-interest or of perceptions of group deservingness/fairness. We rather concentrate on the framing of reform pressures – cost problems associated with for example population ageing, low employment rates, immigration, international economic crisis. Using an experimental design on new representative population samples, we examine whether views on the financial viability of welfare state schemes are susceptible to an argumentative emphasis on reform pressures of various types, and to what extent these effects are contingent on prior attitudes and interests. In addition, the comparative design makes it possible to investigate if effects are contingent on context: is it more difficult to influence perceptions of welfare state sustainability in oil rich Norway than in the more pressured contexts of Germany and Sweden?