Study on the Relationship Between Religion and the Welfare State : With a Focus on the Relationship Between Individual Religious Traits and Welfare Attitudes

Background/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the difference of individual welfare attitude based on religious traits. Earlier studies focused on the relationship between religion as a culture of society and welfare state, which was so macroscopic and abstract. However, This study focuses on the same subject in a microscopic view, and attempts to explain, in an integrated way, about the relationship between religion and the welfare state.

Methods: To analyse individual welfare attitudes, 14,106 respondents from 13 countries were selected from the 'International Social Survey Programme's(ISSP) Role of Government (2006)Ⅵ' dataset. By utilizing the Hierarchical Lineal Model(HLM), national dimension factors and individual dimension factors, which can effect individual welfare attitudes, were included. Variables included as independent variables under the control of other social-economic factors proved by existing studies include - ‘degree of secularization’ in national dimension, ‘existence of religion’, ‘attendance of church service’, and ‘religious denomination’ in the individual dimension.

Results: The result of this study demonstrated that individual welfare attitudes are determinated differently by their religious traits. People who have a religion support the government’s welfare responsibility less than people who do not have a religion. Nowadays many people who have a religion scarcely attend church services. Although they don’t take direct support from religion, their welfare attitude can be differ by their religious identity.

This study, also aims to investigate the difference of individual welfare attitudes from ‘religious denomination’ as well as ‘existence of religion’ and ‘attendance of church service’. The findings show that Protestants support the government’s welfare responsibilities less than people who do not have a religion. However, Among the Protestants, Lutherans, who are mainly located in Scandinavian countries, do not distinguish people who do not have a religion. Catholics support the government's welfare responsibilities like people who do not have a religion. However, in the case of continental European countries where the Catholic Church’s influence was strong, Catholics support the government’s welfare responsibilities less than people who do not have a religion.

Conclusionsand Implications: These results provide a foundation to infer the effect of religious culture such as the proportion of Protestants and Catholics and the degree of secularization of each country in terms of the development of a welfare state. Earlier studies have abstractly explained that the Protestant Church have influenced liberal countries and the Catholic Church have influenced conservative countries with the big picture. This study adds to the empirical basis about that, which enables a more definite explanation about the relationship between religion and the welfare state.

This study is significant in that it confirms the validity of the relationship between religion and the welfare state today. Existing studies have treated the influence of religion by focusing on the formative period of Western welfare states. However, This study shows that even today, when religious culture has changed, welfare attitudes can be different by individuals and national religious traits. This suggests that ‘religion’, is quite excluded today in the discussion about the welfare state, and still deserves our consideration.