ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book reviews the studies that find the expected pattern measure attitudes towards public policies that primarily concern the living conditions of the poor and unemployed. It explains the theoretical explanation that links the macro level welfare regimes and the micro level the welfare attitudes of the electorate. The overall idea was to combine the welfare regime theory with the literature on deservingness criteria, which for strange reasons have lived separated lives. The book addresses the difficulties on how to isolate the effect from degree of generosity on the perceived cultural distinctiveness of the poor and unemployed. It investigates to what extent the strong impact of the perception of the work ethic was rooted in negative stereotypes of immigrants. The book describes that perceptions of job opportunities, generosity, and cultural distinctiveness had a strong and significant impact on support for social assistance.
