Public sector workers' support for technocracy. Comparative evidence from 25 European countries

Abstract

Are public sector workers more supportive of technocracy than people not employed in the public sector? Public sector workers play an important role in the functioning and safeguarding of democracy. However, because of their training as neutral and competent policy workers and implementers, it is often claimed that they hold relatively strong technocratic attitudes. In this study, we compare the support for technocracy of 35,395 public sector and non-public sector workers across 25 European countries. The results show that on average, public sector workers are not more supportive of technocracy than non-public sector workers, and that the effect of public sector employment on support for technocracy differs across countries. Furthermore, we find that trust in representative institutions and satisfaction with government can reduce support for technocracy.