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Social attitudes towards the use of welfare benefits by migrants
Abstract
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The aim is to diagnose attitudes towards the use of welfare benefits by migrants, in the both contexts: foreigners moving to our country and our compatriots moving abroad. This dual-context operationalisation, which considers both immigration and emigration, provides added value to existing studies on welfare attitudes.
THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: In times of globalisation and mass population movements, one of the main challenges is ensuring the sustainability of the social security system. The key question is whether immigrants should have equal access to welfare benefits as natives. The issue is further complicated depending on whether it concerns compatriots moving abroad or foreigners moving to Poland. The results of a diagnostic survey (CAWI) conducted in 2022 on a representative sample of adult Polish residents were used to identify opinions in this regard.
THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: Five types of attitude were identified during the research: welfare sceptics, welfare enthusiasts, welfare chauvinists, welfare xenophiles and the undecided.
RESEARCH RESULTS: Poles vary quite widely in their attitudes towards the use of welfare benefits by immigrants. The proportion of individual attitudes in this regard is as follows: welfare enthusiasts 36.7%, undecided 33%, welfare xenophiles 11.5%, welfare sceptics 9.7%, welfare chauvinists 9.1%.
CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The availability of welfare benefits for immigrants is highly controversial and is currently one of the main topics of public and academic discourse. To date, scholarly attention has mainly focused on the issue of welfare chauvinism. However, the research perspective adopted has not adequately captured the idea and scale of this problem. This study presents the author’s concept of systematisation and operationalisation of such attitudes. The study shows that – contrary to intuitive assumptions – welfare chauvinism is the rarest attitude in Polish society.
Keywords
welfare attitudes ; migrations ; welfare benefits ; welfare chauvinism ; welfare state
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