Welfare Regimes and the Norms of Social Exchange

Abstract

The article highlights the normative underpinning of acts of social giving. The propensity to engage in a costly collective endeavour is strongly enhanced by reciprocity assumptions. People are not solely self-regarding but also care for the well-being of others and express support for the moral purposes of welfare programmes. To identify the conditions under which people tend to support or object to redistributive policies we need to shed light on the specific reciprocity norms that affect social exchanges. What people expect in return for their contribution may vary in value and kind. Specific reciprocity norms determine which type of reciprocal returns within welfare exchanges are perceived as appropriate and satisfying. A taxonomy of reciprocity norms is used to distinguish between different policies.