Opinions of Czechs about the welfare state

Abstract

The post-communist countries are searching for social policies that would meet the requirements of social justice without hindering rapid development of market relationships. This article examines the links between three levels of legitimacy of the concept of the welfare state: the level of preferred principles, the level of attitudes toward specific policies, and the level of desired solutions. It is based on two representative surveys of the Czech population, carried out in 1998 and 1999, on family budgets data from 1989 to 1998, and on some international comparisons, in particular with the Netherlands. The author attempts to explain why and in what respect Czech citizens consider the current social policy to be ineffective: it is mainly owing to the perceived lack of reciprocity between its benefits and its costs, and because individual gain is the predominant motivation behind support for social policy among the great majority of Czech citizens. The author claims that this causes them to lose trust and interest in the government's social policy and leads them to search for other, more efficient solutions through private insurance systems, which promise them protection against growing social uncertainty while providing less solidarity.