ATTITUDES TOWARDS SOCIAL SECURITY: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

There has not been enough attention given to the topic of social security in Slovak psychological research; although the state of social protection, legal aspects of social security or themes of social services, social policy and social care are well described by economists, sociologists, lawyers or social workers. The article provides an overview of the current knowledge of social security attitudes as attitudes have been a research topic of social psychology for a long time. This review is divided into four main parts. Firstly, a brief description of the social security system in the Slovak Republic is provided. Secondly, the paper describes and summarizes different types of welfare states in the context of chosen typologies. It begins with the typology of Esping-Andersen (1990), Leibfried, (1992), Ferrera (1996), and Bonoli (1997) and continues with recent research that lead to the question about numbers and different types of welfare states e.g. Arts and Gellisen (2001) or Gryaznova (2013). Thirdly, the definition of social security attitudes in relation to Fishbein´s and Ajzen´s theory is presented. The possibility of categorizing welfare attitudes into three levels, according to the degree of generality, is outlined. Finally, the results of research on determinants of social security attitudes carried out are described. The large amount of research is built on survey databases such as the European Social Survey or International Social Survey Program. In conclusion, the comparison of European countries gave an answer to the question: “Who is more supportive?” The highest support for social security benefits and services is in Scandinavian countries operating a social democratic regime.