# Inclusive Redistribution and Perceptions of Membership: A Cross-National Comparison

## TL;DR

This study explores how perceptions of immigrants' commitment to society affect public support for welfare policies across seven countries.

## Contribution

The paper presents the first systematic cross-national test of how perceptions of immigrants' membership commitment influence support for inclusive welfare policies.

## Key findings

- Immigrants face a consistent 'membership penalty' in public perception across seven liberal democracies.
- Perceptions of immigrants' commitment to society significantly affect support for extending social benefits to them.
- The penalty exists despite differences in citizenship and welfare regimes among the studied countries.

## Abstract

Immigrants tend to be seen as less deserving of welfare benefits than native-born citizens, but little consensus exists to explain this finding or how to build greater public support for more inclusive policies. Recent work suggests that support for redistribution may be tied to citizens’ perceptions of the “membership commitment” of immigrants. This study provides the first systematic test of this hypothesis in the comparative setting using an original seven country survey conducted in 2021–2022. The survey explored perceptions of immigrants’ membership commitment in the host society in seven liberal democracies and their effect on public support for the extension of social benefits to immigrants. The study shows that immigrants systematically suffer a “membership penalty” within host societies across a wide range of states with different citizenship and welfare regimes, with important consequences for welfare state support.