The project focuses on an actual and serious problem: socialism and welfare state myths in mutual connections and consequences of succumbing to these myths cause undermine the foundations of current societies.
It looks for answers for two Big Questions: 1. Why are ideas of socialism and welfare state so attractive for many people? (With sub questions: Is it related to the myths about them? Are the socialism and welfare myths interrelated?) 2. How subjection to these myths is related to impairing of individual responsibility and their voluntary solidarity?
We want to find the answers by five hypotheses: 1. Accepted and spread socialism and welfare state myths contributes to the appeal of their ideas for many people. 2. Socialism and welfare state myths are linked in such a way that the subjection to one myth supports the other myth and vice versa. 3. Experience with socialism does not mean better resistance to the socialism and welfare state myths and to the limiting of liberties. 4. Subjection to the socialism and welfare state myths influences how people depend on the state and the effectiveness of its intervention and power distribution, and by that deepen their dependency and entitlement mentality and weaken personal responsibility. 5. Subjection to the socialism and welfare state myths influence the weakening of voluntary solidarity.
We will test them in Slovakia. Their verification should be universally utilized. We want create conditions for long term and universal use of the project.
The aim of the project is to confront socialism and welfare state myths with reality and contribute to their eradication and to long term change in people´s thinking towards reinforcing their responsibility. Its impact should be increased interest, knowledge and understanding of these myths by Slovak public with assumed long term and universal usability of the project. We mean to achieve this by activities linking research and its transformation impact on the society.
