Välfärdsutbudet - En grogrund för missnöje? : En kvantitativ studie om huruvida välfärdsattityder skiljer sig mellan tät- och glesbefolkade orter

Sammanfattning: The aim of this thesis is to contribute with knowledge about if and how attitudes towards the welfare state in Sweden differ between people who live in sparsely populated areas and people in densely populated areas. We argue that the different conditions for welfare services to operate in different places, where cities have greater access to e.g. schools and health care from both public and private actors, while municipals in sparsely populated areas are characterized by fewer options and challenges in the upkeep of the existing services, could be of significance in people’s differing attitudes toward the welfare state. A quantitative study is implemented using data from the 2018 round of the Swedish Welfare State Survey, where five hypotheses are investigated by multivariate regression analyses. The result suggests that there are no significant differences in people’s attitudes toward the welfare state depending on where you live. Other factors, such as perceived risk, class, gender and age seem to explain differences in welfare state attitudes better. We conclude, however, that the performance of and attitudes towards welfare state services is a subject of interest for future research due to the potential consequences of an escalating urban-rural divide, as seen in other parts of the world.