Self-interest, sociotropy and social policy

Prosser, Thomas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5697-4339, Larner, Jac ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5171-8851 and Fernandez-Roldan, Alejandro 2025. Self-interest, sociotropy and social policy. [Online]. SSRN: SSRN. Available at: https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5184051

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Abstract

The question of whether citizens are motivated primarily by self-interest or by broader societal concerns has long occupied political scientists. While economic theories of voting have traditionally emphasized rational self-interest, a substantial body of empirical research has challenged this orthodoxy, finding that sociotropic considerations often outweigh narrowly egoistic calculations (Kim, 2014; Miller and Ratner, 1998). Despite the theoretical and empirical significance of this question, research on self-interest and sociotropy has remained disconnected from scholarship on social policy preferences. In this article, we address this gap through two survey experiments with British samples which examine the conditions in which self-interested and sociotropic motivations shape social policy preferences. Our findings reveal a nuanced relationship between self-interest and sociotropy in welfare policy preferences. In our first experiment, respondents exhibit stronger sociotropic motivation when pension reforms benefit broader segments of the population, a pattern consistent with the 'paradox of redistribution' thesis advanced by Korpi and Palme (1998). Unexpectedly, our second experiment reveals a contrasting pattern; respondents demonstrate stronger sociotropic motivation when cost-of-living payments target more narrowly defined, lower-paid segments within occupational groups, contradicting our pre-registered hypotheses We propose that this apparent contradiction may be resolved by considering the specific targets of welfare policies. When policies address wider categories (as with our pension experiment), citizens tend to express broader sociotropic motivation, aligning with the paradox of redistribution. Conversely, when policies target narrowly defined groups (as with our cost-of-living experiment), sociotropic judgments become more discriminating, prioritizing perceptions of deservingness over inclusivity.

Item Type:	Website Content
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Business (Including Economics) Schools > Cardiff Law & Politics
Publisher:	SSRN
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	3 September 2025
Last Modified:	03 Sep 2025 09:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/180845

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