European Solidarity and Distributive Justice: The distribution justice function for attitudes towards European social policies

In recent years, scholars have explored factors affecting support for social policies at the EU level. While mechanisms assessing the relevance of cultural and structural factors have been discussed, evidence indicates that the driving force for support of European social policy is predominantly fostered by cultural factors. Namely, the positive identification with the European Union (i.e. strong European identity) and political orientation on the left-right scale have been identified as consistent predictors of support for social policies at the supranational level. However, a further potentially relevant mechanism sidelined (or only briefly mentioned) in these discussions is the effect of justice principles. Justice principles are a specific set of value dispositions individuals possess about how goods should be distributed and redistributed within a shared community and have been shown to determine attitudes towards national welfare policies. Consequently, we can expect a similar mechanism at the supranational level, with general disposition towards justice principles motivating attitudes towards supranational social policies, as these policies address how European resources should be distributed among the European population. Overall, the primary focus of the paper is to assess whether attitudes towards European social policies is a function of justice principles. In particular, the current study investigates the empirical evidence for the relationship between distributive justice principles and attitudes towards European welfare policies described above. The analysis is based on the TESS dataset conducted 13 European countries in 2016. Models show that justice value orientation has proved to be relevant as well: the more individuals adhere to the need justice principle, the more they will support a European welfare system. The effect is moderated by contextual factors present in the 13 countries included in the study. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that individuals’ understanding of the European Union project also moderates the effect of the need justice principle, to a limited to degree.