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Europe, Measured

ESS-05 / The social contract

Who deserves the safety net?

Who deserves support when the welfare state cannot help everyone?

PlannedWave 2Research question, not a published result

The question

Examine how need, contribution and reciprocity shape public judgments about unemployment, pensions and redistribution.

What the analysis will test

Primary quantity
Comparable weighted deservingness profiles across welfare principles.
Evidence
ESS rounds 4, 8. Modules: welfare.
Primary comparison
Deservingness profile comparison. The final form depends on validated data and uncertainty.
Publication threshold
Pinned source editions, reviewed questionnaire comparability, survey-design-aware intervals, disclosure checks and reproducible aggregate outputs.

What this evidence does not prove

Survey attitudes do not reveal actual budget choices or a fixed willingness to pay.

The ESS interviews different probability samples in each round. It measures structural differences and change, not today's mood or the same individuals over time.

Sources and next release

This page reserves the permanent address for ESS-05. Estimates and downloads will appear here after the data, statistical, editorial and reproducibility checks pass.

Series methodology and source register / ESS11 edition 4.2