General description:
In today's welfare states, there is a strong desire to eliminate "free riders" - that is, a situation when a
person benefits from welfare state, and at the same time does not contribute to the broadly understood welfare
of society. In this context, the key to social relations, understanding the concept of social citizenship or the
construction of the welfare state, are answers to questions about how we understand: reciprocity, responsibility
for others, justice etc. By combining entitlements with benefits in respect of society, we will not avoid evaluate
the people who receive support. Consciously or unconsciously a person makes an assessment; it distinguishes
between people who deserve and those who do not deserved to be helped.
The "Family 500+" program introduced in 2016 brought significant changes in the functioning of Polish
families. In 2018, it was used by 3.7 million children, and many others lived in families receiving benefits. In
the public debate and in scientific studies, much attention was paid to the effects that the program may have
on: women's labour market activity, state budget, the financial situation of families with children, poverty
level, political support for the government and, finally, changes in the demographic situation in Poland. So far,
however, scientists have not studied the impact of the Family 500+ program on the attitudes of Poles. It is
justified to expect that the social attitudes towards the welfare state, social solidarity or the assessment of the
deserving of social benefits; have changed since the introduction of 500+. So far, there is also a lack of
reflection on what is widely discussed in the media, namely on the dissemination and strengthening of
entitlement attitudes among Poles.
In this project, we try to answer a number of questions regarding attitudes towards the welfare state and
its beneficiaries. We believe that the project will contribute to the development of knowledge about social
relations and, in particular, social solidarity, exploring the mechanisms of shaping attitudes or threats to the
future of welfare state. Although in literature there are often reflections on how social attitudes may influence
the process of shaping the policy of the state, and vice versa; how the solutions adopted in the policy may
affect the assessments made by individuals; these are not often empirically verified. An additional justification
for undertaking research on attitudes towards the welfare state and its beneficiaries in Poland is the fact that
there is a lack of in-depth analysis of attitudes towards the welfare state, beneficiaries of benefits and
assessment of their merit for support in this country. It is worth emphasizing here that the uniqueness and
scope of changes that have taken place in recent years in Poland make our country particularly interesting. A
strong justification for the undertaken research is also the introduction of the largest family benefits program
since 1990. Because of its universality and the extremely lively public debate that accompanied its
introduction, the "Family 500+" program on one hand could have influenced the perception of the welfare
state, reciprocity, solidarity or rights and obligations of citizens by the Poles; on the other hand, the program
could empower the entitlement attitudes, evaluation of deservingness, or perception of welfare beneficiaries.
In addition, as in other countries, the welfare state in Poland faces a number of emerging challenges; an aging
population, populism, political radicalism, changes in the functioning of families, migrations, the growing need
for social investment, social inequalities, etc.; which is an additional argument for undertaking the proposed
study
