Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

SZALMA IVETT / SZEL BERNADETT
picture of how governmental institutions work.
A remarkable sociological research showed
that people in Hungary considered the role
of the state to be very important in the 1990s
(Ferge, 1996).
Based on our research, it is visible that this
expectation still exists, not only in postsocialist
Hungary, but also in the majority of
the EU. It has also been shown that not every
citizen expects the same level of state care and
influence on markets. The current sociological
research in Hungary shows that risk groups
and individuals with less education require
more state support: they would prefer greater
state influence while putting less emphasis
on the responsibility of the individuals. They
expect the state to provide job opportunities
and financial security (Utasi, 2008). On the
European level, it has been shown that the
majority of citizens prefer a strong social
perspective in their country as well as tax
decreases. Citizens with a higher education
level believe in the efficiency of social measures
to a greater extent as well as that businesses
suffer on expenditures related to social services
and benefits to a certain extent.
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