Allies or enemies of the welfare state? Welfare support and critiques from (left-wing) protesters in Europe

Social legitimacy is essential for welfare states to be able to function efficient and effective. Welfare attitude research, however, has focussed less on welfare support among specific subgroups within the population; specifically those groups who have a higher interests in the welfare state. People who participate in social movement action repertoires (as protesting or signing petitions) are more engaged in societal discussions and might have stronger opinions about welfare policies and even higher ability to influence these policies. Are protesters allies of the welfare state or rather enemies? Their welfare attitudes are of substantial interest to understand more of the dynamic underlying welfare state legitimacy and social policy change. In this chapter I analyse welfare state support and critiques among (left wing) activists using data from two waves of the European Social Survey in 2008/9 and 2016/17. Do (political) activists have different welfare attitudes compared to the general public? Do these attitudes differ for activists with different political affiliations? Has this changed over time? And what are differences across European regions? Results show that (left-wing) protesters are more concerned about the outcomes of welfare policies and are more supportive of welfare redistribution, compared to non-protesters and other politically affiliated protesters. Moreover, they are more so in 2016/17 compared to 2008/9. With regard to regional differences is it found that left wing protesters are more supportive of redistribution in Nordic countries and show more critiques on the welfare state in Anglo Saxon countries, compared to left wing protesters in other European countries. In Eastern European countries left wing protesters do not deviate from other politically affiliated protesters. In conclusion this chapter shows that protesters are not only more supportive but also strong criticisers of welfare policies: acting both as enemies as well as allies of the welfare state.