@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work Does the Cultural Context Really Shape Welfare? A Comparative Analysis John Hudson University of York, UK Nam K. Jo SungKongHoe University, South Korea Antonia Keung University of York, UK Award ES/J00460X/1

@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work Background  ‘Culture matters’ thesis  ‘Macro’ perspective  Broad conception, dominant beliefs, often post hoc explanations  ‘Micro’ perspective  Public opinion, specific issues, unstable  Advances in data, concepts and method

@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work In-Between Analysis  Jo (2011) culture as stable societal values  More concrete than macro  More enduring than micro  Cultural context of social policy making  Interplay of politics, economics, institutions and culture at meso-level  Not a decisive influence, but a significant one

@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work Analytic Strategy  Extract examples of societal values:  Data from successive waves EVS/WVS data  173 societal cases 59 countries x max 4 time points 243,975 responses  Factor analysis of pooled data manual inspection and reanalysis  End goal: identify stable and distinct examples of societal values  Built on work of Hofstede, Jo, Schwartz, van de Vijver et al

@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work  Societal values used in OLS & MLM regression models  Models include OECD states only due to data limitations  Dependent Variables (Policy Decisions):  Following Jo: public opinion data and spending data on contentious issues  ‘Old social risks’: perceptions of poverty unemployment spending  Expand to ‘new social risks’: family policy spending maternity leave policy  Exploit new data sources (OECD Family Policy Structures Database) Analytic Strategy

@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work  Additional Independent Variables (Policy Contexts):  Economic context (GDP per capita, growth, unemployment)  Political context (cabinet composition)  Institutional context (welfare regime)  Five year averages (except values)  Stage I of analysis: fs/QCA to follow Analytic Strategy

@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work Societal Values Societal ValueExample Survey Item RelgiosityGod is important in my life Conservative Social NormsIs divorce permissible? Permissive Values on Adherence to LawsJustifiable to cheat on taxes? Optimistic ValuesSatisfied with your life? Traditional Family ValuesIs marriage an out-dated institution? Interpersonal toleranceWould you not like heavy drinkers as your neigbours? Political ActivenessDo you participate in lawful demonstrations? Political OrientednessDo you regularly discuss politics with friends?

@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work  Culture significantly improves models  Religiosity +  Political activeness -  Condition, but not status of economy  Political impact puzzling?  Regimes play clear role Public Opinion: individuals and poverty

@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work  Culture significantly improves models  Inter-personal tolerance +  Political activeness -  Political orientedness +  Condition and status of economy matter  Regimes play muted role  Political context not significant Unemployment Spending: Share SOCX

@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work  Remarkably consistent  Culture significantly improves models  But significant societal values alter  Inter-personal tolerance still +  Political activeness and political orientedness shift  Permissive values on adherence to laws Unemployment Spending: Share GDP

@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work  Culture improves models but not significantly  Religiosity –  Regimes play muted role  Political context not significant  Status of economy matters  Less strong support for culture matters thesis… Family Spending: Share GDP

@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work  Culture improves models but not significantly for MLM  Again religiosity -  Conservative social norms +  Political and institutional contexts not significant  Status and condition (unemp) of economy matters  Less strong support for culture matters thesis… Family Spending: Share SOCX

@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work  Societal values impact on politically charged normative debates  Unemployment spending captures this well  Family policy aggregates wide range of interventions e.g.:  Universal child benefits  In-work income top-ups for families with children  Income supplements for lone parent and large families  Child care  Maternity leave  Different normative debates for each  Move away from focus on expenditure Problems with Spending…

@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work  Considered maternity leave: replacement rate, length and FTE  Replacement rate:  Culture improves model but not significantly so  Modest support for culture matters thesis?  Length:  Culture improves model significantly  Largely the same for FTEs  Strong support for culture matters thesis… Family Policy Structures

@spswspsw.york Department of Social Policy and Social Work  Shown value of in-between concept of culture  Facilitates empirical investigation of culture matters thesis  Tentative findings – refinements and fs/QCA to follow  Limits to approach here:  Data driven Examples of societal values Weaknesses in models  Added support to culture matters thesis  Interesting tentative findings worthy of further exploration Conclusion

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