%0 Journal Article
%A Cooper, K
%A Burchardt, T
%D 2021
%F discovery:10130109
%I WILEY
%J Social Policy & Administration
%K immigration, inequality, public attitudes, welfare state
%T How divided is the attitudinal context for policymaking? Changes in public attitudes to the welfare state, inequality and immigration over two decades in Britain
%U https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10130109/
%X If public attitudes towards the welfare state, inequality and  immigration are becoming increasingly polarized, as recent  political events might suggest, the space for progressive  social policies is more constrained. Using data from the British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA) spanning 23years, we analyse trends in these attitudes, examining whether there has  been divergence between those who have been more and  less exposed to disadvantage through changes in the economy and the welfare state across more than two decades.  Taken in this longer term context, and examining characteristics not previously considered in relation to public attitudes such as lone parenthood and disability, we find little  evidence of polarization in attitudes to welfare, inequality  and immigration and even some evidence of attitudinal gaps  narrowing. We conclude that given this lack of division,  there may be greater room for more pro-welfare and progressive policies than the prevalent narrative of polarization  suggests.
%Z © 2021 The Authors. Social Policy & Administration published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.    This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.