Welfare: Social provision or Self-reliance?

Where the library sits on this axis

The 112 written profiles are each stored with one value for this axis, written by hand. These are the ones furthest toward either end, and the ones closest to the middle.

These are editorial readings of the positions, not measurements of any party, movement or voter, and every vector is open to disagreement. Every profile, all three sets →

The statements that measure this axis

The question bank holds 10 statements for welfare: 5 coded so that agreement counts toward Self-reliance, and 5 coded the other way, toward Social provision. The Short version draws 3 of them, Standard 5 and Deep 10.

• “Welfare should be a safety net of last resort, not a way of life.” agreeing counts toward Self-reliance
• “Healthcare should be available to everyone regardless of ability to pay.” agreeing counts toward Social provision
• “Lower taxes leave families better able to look after themselves.” agreeing counts toward Self-reliance
• “A wealthy society should guarantee a minimum income to every citizen.” agreeing counts toward Social provision
• “Long-term dependence on benefits damages communities more than it helps them.” agreeing counts toward Self-reliance
• “Public housing and free childcare are investments, not expenses.” agreeing counts toward Social provision
• “Charity and family networks help people more than state programmes do.” agreeing counts toward Self-reliance
• “Poverty is a structural failure, so relieving it is a public responsibility.” agreeing counts toward Social provision
• “Benefits should be conditional on work, training or community service.” agreeing counts toward Self-reliance
• “Extreme inequality undermines the social stability that markets depend on.” agreeing counts toward Social provision

How this axis is scored

Each statement is answered on a five-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. On this axis, 5 statements count agreement toward Self-reliance and 5 count it toward Social provision, so a run where you agree with everything does not drift to one end.

The two directions are averaged separately and then weighted equally, and the result is reported between −100 and +100: negative toward Social provision, positive toward Self-reliance. A statement you skip is not counted on this axis at all, so skipping never moves the score. Anything inside ±12 is recorded as centred rather than as a lean.

The same twelve values are what your result is matched against. How scoring works, in full →