One of Wim van Oorschot’s main contributions to the field of welfare state studies is his work on welfare state legitimacy1 – that is, public support for certain social policies. In particular, his name has become synonymous with deservingness: the extent to which certain individuals are considered ‘deserving’ of public support, for instance through welfare benefits (van Oorschot, 2000, 2006). Deservingness perceptions are largely affected by two aspects: the institutional design of a benefit and the public image of its target group (Laenen et al., 2019; van Oorschot and Roosma 2017). The latter means that perceptions of deservingness are based on stereotypes about (possible) benefit recipients: a negative collective image of a certain social group means it is less favourably judged in terms of (some of) the deservingness criteria, thereby lowering public support for benefits targeting this particular group. The stereotypes about a group affecting its deservingness refer in particular to five perceived characteristics of the members of this group, which are known as ‘deservingness criteria’ or ‘CARIN criteria’ and which are a set of ‘rules’ people use to determine who is ‘deserving’ of public support and who is not (van Oorschot, 2000, 2006). The more control an individual is perceived to have over one’s situation, the less inclined people will be to argue that this individual should be entitled to a benefit. van Oorschot (2000) finds that control is particularly important for deservingness, confirming earlier research. For instance, Will (1993: 330) found that ‘Those who try to improve their lot in life and still fall short are shown much higher levels of generosity than those who appear not to try.’ Attitude refers in particular to the level of gratefulness of the benefit recipient, with more grateful individuals being perceived as more deserving of the benefit. Reciprocity affects deservingness in the sense that people are more inclined to support benefits for individuals who are perceived as having contributed before (or will do so later on). Identity is about whether one can identify oneself with the recipient: one is more inclined to support benefits for individuals one can relate to, individuals that resemble oneself. Finally, need refers to the extent to which the individual requires a benefit to foresee in one’s subsistence, with more needy individuals being seen as more deserving. Stereotypes are considered to be one of the foundations of deservingness, as the latter strongly relies on perceptions and opinions about individuals or groups. However, the link with the social-psychological literature on stereotypes is rarely made explicit in writings on deservingness – a rare exception being a footnote in van Oorschot (2006). Bridging the gap between both literatures, we argue in this contribution that this link is not as straightforward as might have been assumed. In doing so, it will become clear that the role of ‘identity’ is not as clear-cut as it is presented in the deservingness literature. In the following, we briefly present the concepts of stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination, and discuss the role of proximity for their development. Then, we discuss the nature of identity in relation to the other four CARIN criteria and deservingness itself. Finally, the chapter presents some new roads for future research springing from linking both strands of literature.