The Welfare State Dilemma of Need and Informality: A Mixed Methods Study of Attitudes to Visible Begging in Sweden

A minority of mobile European Union citizens provide for themselves by begging in other member states. In some countries, e.g. Sweden, begging has caused heated debates and there is a broad political consensus to contain its’ prevalence. One of the concrete proposals is to simply ban begging in the public space. Despite the abundance of public opinion research, there is a surprising lack of studies about attitudes towards visible begging – a void that motivates a hypotheses generating research aim. This mixed methods study combines national survey data and explorative in- depth interviews to explain attitudes to begging and a begging ban in Sweden.