Increasing conflict in times of retrenchment? Attitudes towards healthcare provision in Europe between 1996 and 2002

Abstract

Public opinion is considered a major obstacle to changing the status quo of welfare state policies. Yet some far-reaching reforms and gradual changes of European welfare states prompt the reverse question: Have increased reform pressures and restructuring efforts led to changes in individual attitudes? This chapter investigates individual attitudes towards public provision of healthcare in 14 European countries between 1996 and 2002. It shows a strong and stable support for a public provision of healthcare. Testing core assumptions of the new politics theory and power resources theory, the chapter also looks at conflict lines within society. Observing stability, not change, the study does not find evidence that the relevance of old cleavages is in decline. Both old and new cleavages shape individual attitudes.