Numerous studies have assessed the extent to which citizens support or oppose welfare benefits (shorthand: benefits). To properly understand this support or opposition, it is important to consider what benefits actually mean to citizens. Indeed, because citizens' understandings of benefits are likely to vary, there may be similar (different) levels of support for very different (similar) reasons. Consequently, in-depth insights into these understandings are required to properly grasp public attitudes on welfare benefits. Therefore, this study adopts an inductive approach, holding focus-group discussions with Dutch citizens with different social backgrounds (48 respondents/11 gatherings). Three distinct discourses were identified: (1) benefits as self-responsibility and reciprocity; (2) benefits as participation and solidarity; and (3) benefits as well-being and self-actualization. These diverging discourses each involve closely intertwined understandings of the function of benefits, their relationship to work and welfare deservingness. We discuss the relevance of our findings and make suggestions for future research.

中文翻译：

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荷兰公众对福利的不同理解：焦点小组研究

许多研究评估了公民支持或反对福利的程度（简写：福利）。要正确理解这种支持或反对，重要的是要考虑利益对公民的实际意义。事实上，由于公民对福利的理解可能会有所不同，因此出于非常不同（相似）的原因可能会有相似（不同）的支持水平。因此，需要深入了解这些理解，以正确掌握公众对福利的态度。因此，本研究采用归纳法，与不同社会背景的荷兰公民进行焦点小组讨论（48 名受访者/11 次聚会）。确定了三种不同的话语：（1）作为自我责任和互惠的好处；(2) 参与和团结的好处；(3) 福利和自我实现。这些不同的论述都涉及对福利功能、福利与工作的关系以及福利应得性的紧密交织的理解。我们讨论了我们的发现的相关性，并为未来的研究提出了建议。