Across Europe, the welfare state is a focus of social and political contention. Participating in the democratic process offers a means for the public to voice their preferences. However, not everyone participates in politics. Research shows that there are significant participatory inequalities as those with greater socioeconomic resources are more likely to participate in politics. In light of these participatory inequalities, this thesis examines the representativeness of the welfare state preferences of the politically active. The main hypothesis posits that, if less advantaged socioeconomic groups are less likely to participate in politics, the welfare state preferences of the politically active are unlikely to be representative. The thesis brings together the comparative study of participatory inequality and social differences in welfare state preferences to examine data from the European Social Survey (ESS) 2008-09 for Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Latent Class Analysis examines how preferences about the welfare state vary within Europe. By grouping individuals, the analysis shows that within societies there are different views about what should be the responsibilities of government. Using the latent classes, and considering a range of political actions, multivariate regression models show how social inequality determines conflict over the welfare state and transforms into political inequality. The association between preferences and political activity is examined to establish the representativeness of participant preferences. Finally, models combining welfare state preferences, political activity and social position address how social inequality shapes the link between political activity and welfare state preferences. Based on survey data for four European countries, the thesis finds that the politically active are not always representative in their preferences; however, the preference bias of participation varies in direction across countries and forms of political participation. Participatory inequalities do lead to the under-representation of support for the welfare state among the politically active but not in all cases. Examining the social stratification of preferences and participation, the thesis suggests that cross-national variations in the representativeness of participants may result from how preferences and participation are socially stratified. For instance, significant participatory inequalities can occur in contexts where there is less contention over the welfare state. Conversely, contention over the welfare state can coincide with egalitarian patterns of political activity. A concluding proposition is that the factors inhibiting the political participation of the socio-economically disadvantaged may also cultivate weaker levels of support for the welfare state.

In dieser Studie werden Einstellungen zu sozialer Ungleichheit bzw. Gerechtigkeitseinstellungen und die Wahrnehmung von Einkommensungerechtigkeit durch die Bevölkerung in postkommunistischen und westlich-kapitalistischen Ländern zu verschiedenen Zeitpunkten untersucht. Im Zentrum stehen vor allem die Determinanten dieser subjektiven Bewertungen und Wahrnehmungen auf der Makro-Ebene. Wie lassen sich Unterschiede in den Einstellungen und Wahrnehmungen zwischen Ländern erklären? Für westliche Länder wird davon ausgegangen, dass im Wesentlichen der Wohlfahrtsstaat als zentrales Verteilungsarrangement jeweils prägend wirkt. Um den Einfluss des Wohlfahrtsstaates zu überprüfen, wird einerseits eine Typologie wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Regime herangezogen. Andererseits wird auch der Einfluss wohlfahrtsstaatsbezogener Makroindikatoren als nähere Charakterisierung der ausgewählten Länder getestet, was in der international vergleichenden Einstellungsforschung bislang vernachlässigt wurde. In postkommunistischen Ländern, die seit dem Systemwechsel im Vergleich zu westlichen Ländern nicht durch lange wohlfahrtsstaatliche Traditionen geprägt wurden, stehen eher die unterschiedlichen Transformationsverläufe als Erklärungshintergrund von Einstellungs- und Wahrnehmungsunterschieden auf Makro-Ebene zur Verfügung. Da die objektiven Strukturen, Institutionen und individuellen Lagen in postkommunistischen Ländern einem stärkeren sozialen Wandel unterlagen, ist hier im Gegensatz zu westlichen Ländern auch mit einem entsprechend stärkeren Wandel der Gerechtigkeitseinstellungen und Bewertungen zu rechnen. Die Daten für diese Studie stammen aus zwei internationalen Umfrageprojekten, dem ''International Social Justice Project'' (ISJP) von 1991, 1996 und 2000 sowie dem ''International Social Survey Programme'' (ISSP) von 1987, 1992 und 1999. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sich Gerechtigkeitseinstellungen, die als normative Grundhaltungen von Menschen eher prinzipieller Art sind, besser durch wohlfahrtsstaatliche Regimes erklären lassen, die diese Grundhaltungen institutionell inkorporieren und strukturell transportieren, während subjektive Wahrnehmungen von Einkommensungerechtigkeit besser durch konkretere wohlfahrtsstaatliche Makroindikatoren beeinflusst werden. / This study analyzes attitudes towards social inequality, justice ideologies and the perceived amount of injustice with respect to the distribution of income in post-communist and western-capitalist countries at different times, with a specific focus on the macro level determinants of subjective judgements and perceptions. How can country differences with respect to subjective judgements and perceptions be explained? One can assume that, for western countries, the welfare state is the main distribution arrangement shaping these subjective aspects. In order to analyze the influence of the welfare state, a typology of welfare state regimes is developed. In addition, the effects of macro indicators of the welfare state, conceptualized as more specific characteristics of the selected countries, are tested, which has been previously neglected in cross-national attitude research. In post-communist countries, which were not shaped by long national welfare state traditions as much as in western countries, the different transformation processes and their success are more suitable for explaining divergent macro-level attitudes and perceptions. As objective structures, institutions and the individual situations in post-communist countries have gone through a stronger process of social change than in western countries, a stronger change in justice attitudes, evaluations and perceptions can be accounted here accordingly. Data for this study come from two international survey projects, the ''International Social Justice Project'' (ISJP) 1991, 1996 and 2000 and the ''International Social Survey Programme'' (ISSP) 1987, 1992 and 1999. The results demonstrate that justice attitudes, which are rather basic normative attitudes, can be better explained by welfare state regimes which incorporate these basic attitudes institutionally and transport them structurally, whereas subjective perceptions, such as the perception of social injustice with respect to the income distribution, are affected by more concrete welfare related macro indicators.