Does exposure to information on ethnic minorities’ greater welfare dependency affect attitudes to welfare and welfare recipients? A pre-registered, population-based survey experiment

The relationship between ethnic diversity and welfare attitudes has been the subject of much research. However, little is known about how exposure to information on the overrepresentation of ethnic minority individuals among welfare recipients affects attitudes to welfare recipients in general. We scrutinize a potential information exposure effect, and assess two contrasting scenarios, i.e., exposure to aforementioned information might strengthen either negative stereotypes of welfare recipients or the notion that welfare dependency is the result of structural conditions. Additionally, we hypothesize that the former (latter) response is more likely among those with more (less) ethnocentric attitudes. We tested this by conducting an original pre-registered survey experiment among members of a high-quality probability-based panel designed to represent the Dutch population (n = 1,527). The treatment group was exposed to information depicting the overrepresentation of Dutch citizens with a Moroccan migration background among welfare recipients in the Netherlands, while the control group was not. It was only among the more ethnocentric respondents that exposure to the treatment increased support for the notions that welfare recipients: 1) are lacking work ethic; and 2) are themselves to blame for their condition. There was 3) no treatment effect on support for welfare schemes in general. We discuss the implications of these findings for a variety of academic debates and make suggestions for further research.