What can we learn about (public) attitudes towards aspects of the welfare state in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic? It is a now well-rehearsed observation that the pandemic has created unprecedented social conditions and challenges. A reasonable assumption is that this would feed through into drastic shifts in attitudes, but this is not what the evidence to date shows.

This event paints a more detailed picture of what has happened to attitudes and why. Covering attitudes towards the welfare state, inequality and social security benefits we ask what has happened to attitudes, why this might be, and what this means for policy formation and change.

Key questions:

• (How) has the pandemic precipitated a shift in attitudes?
• How do the conditions of the pandemic relate to attitudes to inequality, the welfare state, and benefits stigma? And how might these be related?
• How do our methods of investigation relate to what we can observe about attitudes?
• How should we think about attitudes in relation to policy formation and change?

Speakers:

• Bobby Duffy - The Policy Institute, Kings College London
• Ben Baumberg Geiger, Rob de Vries and Kate Summers - Welfare at a (Social) Distance research project
• Tania Burchardt and Kerris Cooper - Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE and Education Policy Insititute

Presentations:

• Unequal Britain: How worldviews shape concern By Bobby Duffy
• Solidarity in a Crisis? Trends in attitudes to benefits during COVID-19 By Ben Baumberg Geiger, Rob de Vries and Kate Summers
• What is the attitudinal context for welfare policy-making? (And how should we know?) By Tania Burchardt and Kerris Cooper