Did Russians' Welfare Attitudes Change? An Analysis of the Dynamics and Comparison with Other Countries

Abstract

The article presents a comparative analysis of the views of Russians on the social policy of the state using the data of the European Social Survey for 2008 and 2016. The results show statistically significant changes in the views on social policy during this period. Social demands of Russians towards the state have slightly decreased in terms of assistance to pensioners, the unemployed and families with children, although they still remain quite high. At the same time, the structure of these welfare attitudes remained unchanged. The Russians’ assessment of the standard of living of retirees and the unemployed slightly improved. Nevertheless, among European countries Russia features, as before, – the most negative assessments of the situation of pensioners and the unemployed. Such assessments of their situation are given by poor Russians. In 2016, the link of the assessment of the financial situation of pensioners and the unemployed became more noticeable with demands for increased state responsibility for helping each of these groups. Between the two groups of indicators, a stricter linear relationship is observed with regard to pensioners – the worse the average citizens of countries estimate the standard of living of pensioners, the more they consider its improvement a responsibility of the state. Russians’ views on unemployment benefits differ significantly from people in most European countries.