Welfare chauvinism: Difference between revisions

'''Welfare chauvinism''' or '''welfare state nationalism''' is the political notion that [[welfare benefits]] should be restricted to certain groups, particularly to the natives of a country as opposed to immigrants, or should be for the majority, excluding [[ethnic minorities]]. It is used as an argumentation strategy by [[right-wing populism|right-wing populist parties]], which describes a claimed connection between the problems of the [[welfare state]] and, in essence, [[immigration]], but also other [[social group]]s such as welfare recipients and the [[unemployed]]. The focus is placed on categorizing state residents in two extremes: the "nourishing" and "debilitating" and the contradiction between them in the competition for the society's scarce resources.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Harvnb|Rydgren|2005}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">{{Harvnb|Mény & |Surel|2002}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceC">{{Harvnb|Rydgren & |Widfeldt|2004}}</ref>

The term ''welfare chauvinism'' was first used in social science in the 1990 paper "Structural changes and new cleavages: The progress parties in Denmark and Norway" by [[Jørgen Goul Andersen]] and [[Tor Bjørklund]]. TheyThe authors described it as the notion that "welfare services should be restricted to our own".<ref>Linda Besner (7 February 2013): [http://www.randomhouse.ca/hazlitt/blog/why-dutch-vote-geert-wilders Why the Dutch Vote for Geert Wilders] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130730234204/http://www.randomhouse.ca/hazlitt/blog/why-dutch-vote-geert-wilders |date=2013-07-30 }} Randomhouse.ca, retrieved 31 July 2013</ref><ref>Jørgen Gold Andersen and Tor Bjørklund (1990): [https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4200798?uid=3738744&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21102506471011 Structural changes and new cleavages: The progress parties in Denmark and Norway] [[Acta Sociologica]], [[JStor]], retrieved 31 July 2013</ref>

In the description of society and the problems of the welfare state, [[populism|populists]], especially right-wing populists and welfare chauvinists, use a line of argument based on two extremes in which citizens are divided into 'nourishing' and 'debilitating' groups. The nourishing group consists of those who are a part of society's welfare and the country's prosperity: community builders; "the people"; the ordinary honest working man. The second group as standing outside of "the people" are the debilitating group, believed to be promoting or utilizing welfare without adding any value to society. The debilitating group consists of [[bureaucrat]]s, [[Academic staff|academics]], [[immigrant]]s, the unemployed, welfare recipients and others. As such, welfare is seen as a system with embedded exclusion mechanisms.<ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref name="ReferenceC"/>

The same principle of argument is, according to the academics [[Peer Scheepers]], [[Mérove Gijsberts]] and [[Marcel Coenders]], transferred to the [[labor market]];, where the competition for jobs is made out to be an ethnic conflict between immigrants and the native population. In times of high unemployment this rhetorical coupling amplifies and enhances the legitimacy of the welfare chauvinist and other [[xenophobic]] arguments.<ref name="ReferenceD">{{Harvnb|Scheepers, |Gijsberts & |Coenders|2002}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceE">{{Harvnb|Oesch|2008}}</ref>

{{More citations needed|section|date=June 2021}}

Examples of contemporary political parties and groups that use, or used, a welfare chauvinist argumentation strategy: the [[Progress Party (Denmark)|Progress Party]] and [[Danish People's Party]] in Denmark, [[Finns Party]] in Finland, [[Freedom Party of Austria]] in Austria, [[Alternative for Germany]] in Germany,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://m.dw.com/en/afd-what-you-need-to-know-about-germanys-far-right-party/a-37208199-0|title=Everything you need to Know about Alternative for Germany|author=Jefferson Chase|date=2017-09-24|publisher=DeutscheWelle}}</ref> [[National Rally]] in France, [[Sweden Democrats]] and [[Alternative for Sweden]]<ref name="ReferenceA" /> in Sweden, [[Golden Dawn (political party)|Golden Dawn]] in Greece, [[Patriot Front (Argentina)|Patrotic Front]] in [[Argentina]], [[One Nation (Australia)|One Nation]] in Australia, [[Lega Nord]] in Italy, the [[Coalition Avenir Québec]] in Canada, and the [[Party for Freedom]] in The Netherlands.<ref>{{cite news|author=Wouter van de Klippe |title=Wilders' welfare chauvinism |url=https://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/democracy-and-society/wilders-welfare-chauvinism-7578/ |work=IPS Journal |date=14 June 2024}}</ref>

* {{citation|first1 = Jenny |last1 = Kiiskinen |first2 = Sigrid |last2 = Saveljeff |url = http://dspace.mah.se/bitstream/handle/2043/10135/Dansa%20i%20otakt%20webb.pdf;jsessionid=5B415C1126FC98CA4B9D0C4A50667851?sequence=1 |title = Att dansa i otakt med väljarna: Socialdemokraternas och Moderaternas strategiska bedömning av Sverigedemokraterna |journal = Malmö Studies in International Migration and Ethnic Relations |year = 2010 |publisher = Malmö högskola |location = Malmö |language = Swedish|issn=1652-3997}}

* {{citation|last1 = Kitschelt |first1 = Herbert |authorlink1= Herbert Kitschelt |title = The radical right in Western Europe: a comparative analysis |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AZiD0rsmqO4C |year = 1997 |publisher = [[University of Michigan Press]] |location = Ann Arbor |isbn = 978-0-472-08441-8 |id=[[LIBRIS]] 8883465}}

* {{citation |last1 = Lodenius |first1 = Anna-Lena |authorlink1 = Anna-Lena Lodenius |title = Sverigedemokraterna, så funkar dom | url = http://www.ordfront.se/www.ordfront.se/Ordfrontmagasin/Artiklar%202010/Sverigedemokraterna%20sa%20funkar%20de%205_10.aspx |year = 2010 |publisher = Ordfront magasin |language = Swedish |accessdate = 2011-08-14 |archive-date = 2011-08-19 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110819013335/http://www.ordfront.se/www.ordfront.se/Ordfrontmagasin/Artiklar%202010/Sverigedemokraterna%20sa%20funkar%20de%205_10.aspx |url-status = dead }}

* {{citation|first1 = Daniel |last1 = Oesch |title = Explaining Workers' Support for Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe: Evidence from Austria, Belgium, France, Norway, and Switzerland |year = 2008 | volume = 29 |issue = 3 |pages = 349–373 | journal= International Political Science Review |doi = 10.1177/0192512107088390 |doi-access = free |s2cid = 154393682 |url = https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:12902 }}

[[Category:FanaticismNationalism]]