Disentangling the Dutch enigma: the interplay between institutional design, popular perceptions and the social legitimacy of targeted welfare

A recurring idea in welfare state research is that public support for social welfare is related to the institutional design of welfare policies. However, strong empirical evidence for such an institutional embeddedness of welfare attitudes has thus far been lacking. This article diverges from the widespread macro-perspective of welfare regime theory by shifting its focus of analysis from countries to income benefit schemes within the heterogeneous welfare context of the Netherlands. Based on the 2006 Welfare Opinions Survey, results show that the institutional design of three differently organized benefit schemes (citizenship-based pensions, contribution-based unemployment insurance and poverty-based social assistance) is meaningfully related to popular perceptions of self-interest, program performance and welfare deservingness. These intermediate perceptions, in turn, appear to have a significant impact on the social legitimacy of welfare allocation to the target groups of the schemes – pensioners, jobless people and social assistance recipients.status: publishe