2.2 The crosscutting impact of labor market vulnerability and education on social policy preferences Our theoretical arguments are based on the premise that welfare state preferences are mainly shaped by economic self-interest. Hence, the main reason for diverging preferences lies in the distributive implications of social policies.5 Social rights are either based on employment or on need (social insurance versus redistribution) and have different goals (activation versus passive protection). In this section, we discuss how labor market vulnerability and education affect social policy preferences. In particular, we argue that the effect of labor market vulnerability on support for social policy should be even stronger among the high-skilled than among the low-skilled: among the low-skilled, generalized support for the welfare state is likely to be high for insiders and outsiders for a number of reasons (such as lower levels of income and wealth), with labor market vulnerability being just one more factor that pushes in the same direction. However, among the high-skilled, general support for welfare state generosity is lower. Hence, they should be less inclined toward expansive policies, unless they are in a vulnerable labor market situation.