Conclusion: Welfare attitudes research as a cathedral under permanent construction

This chapter argues that our scientific knowledge on welfare attitudes has vastly improved and diversified in the past couple of decades thanks to the work of a large number of scholars from various academic disciplines who have used a heterogeneous mix of quantitative and qualitative techniques of data and analysis. This includes the chapters in this volume, which all contribute to our understanding of welfare attitudes, by expanding the scope of the dependent and independent variables, providing a dynamic perspective on welfare attitudes and developing new methodological tools to study them. At the same time there are still plenty of knowledge gaps which require further research. What is more, (at least part of) our knowledge base is constantly in need of renovation: as welfare states change, so do welfare attitudes. To support the research projects, infrastructure and networks that are needed to advance welfare attitudes research, funding has to be secured.