Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T11:39:32.125Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A European Perspective on Religion and Welfare: Contrasts and Commonalities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 June 2012

Grace Davie
Grace Davie*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Philosophy, University of Exeter E-Mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article places the British material on religion and social policy in a comparative perspective. In order to do so, it introduces a recently completed project on welfare and religion in eight European societies, entitled ‘Welfare and Religion in a European Perspective’. Theoretically it draws on the work of two key thinkers: Gøsta Esping-Andersen and David Martin. The third section elaborates the argument: all West European societies are faced with the same dilemmas regarding the provision of welfare and all of them are considering alternatives to the state for the effective delivery of services. These alternatives include the churches.

Keywords

ReligionwelfareEuropesecularisationsociology of religion
Type
Themed Section on Social Policy and Religion in Contemporary Britain
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , October 2012 , pp. 589 - 599
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anttonen, A. and Sipilä, J. (1996) ‘European social care services: is it possible to identify models?’, Journal of European Social Policy, 6, 2, 87–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arts, W. and Gelissen, J. (2002) ‘Three worlds of welfare capitalism or more? A state-of-the-art report’, Journal of European Social Policy, 12, 2, 137–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aune, K. (ed.) (2008) Women and Religion in the West: Challenging Secularization, Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Bäckström, A. and Davie, G., with Edgardh, N. and Pettersson, P. (eds.) (2010) Welfare and Religion in 21st Century Europe (Volume I): Configuring the Connections, Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Bäckström, A., Davie, G., Edgardh, N. and Pettersson, P. (eds.) (2011), Welfare and Religion in 21st Century Europe (Volume II): Gendered, Religious and Social Change, Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Baldock, J. (1999) Social Policy, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Baldwin, P. (1996) ‘Can we define a European welfare state model?,’ in Greve, B. (ed.), Comparative Welfare Systems: The Scandinavian Model in a Period of Change, London: Macmillan, pp. 29–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beaumont, J., Cloke, P. and Vranken, J. (eds.) (forthcoming), The FBO Phenomenon: Faith, Welfare and Exclusion In European Cities, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Casanova, J. (1994) Public Religions in the Modern World, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davie, G. (2006) ‘Religion in Europe in the 21st century: the factors to take into account’, European Journal of Sociology, 47, 2, 271–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dinham, A., Furbey, R. and Lowndes, V. (eds.) (2009) Faith in the Public Realm: Controversies, Policies and Practices, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Edgardh, N. (2011) ‘A gendered perspective on welfare and religion in Europe’, in Bäckström, A., Davie, G., Edgardh, N. and Pettersson, P. (eds.), Welfare and Religion in 21st Century Europe (Volume II): Gendered, Religious and Social Change, Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 61–106.Google Scholar
Edgardh Beckman, N. (ed.) (2004) Welfare, Church and Gender In Eight European Countries, Working paper 1 from the project Welfare and Religion in a European Perspective, Uppsala: Uppsala Institute for Diaconal and Social Studies.Google Scholar
Ekstrand, T. (2011) ‘Thinking theologically about welfare and religion’, in Bäckström, A., Davie, G., Edgardh, N. and Pettersson, P. (eds.), Welfare and Religion in 21st Century Europe (Volume II): Gendered, Religious and Social Change, Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 107–50.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1996) Welfare States In Transition: National Adaptations in Global Economies, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Ferrera, M. (1997) ‘General introduction’, in Ascoli, U. (ed.), Comparing Social Welfare Systems in Southern Europe, Paris: MIRE.Google Scholar
Fraser, N. (1997) ‘After the family wage: a postindustrial thought experiment’, in Fraser, N. (ed.), Justice Interruptus: Critical Reflections on the ‘Postsocialist’ Condition, New York: Routledge, pp. 41–66.Google Scholar
Gilbert, N. (2002) Transformation of the Welfare State: The Silent Surrender of Public Responsibility, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gover, D. (2011) Turbulent Priests: The Archbishop of Canterbury in Contemporary English Politics, London: Theos (The Public Theology Think Tank).Google Scholar
Grassman, Jeppsson (2010) ‘Welfare in western Europe: existing regimes and patterns of change’, in Bäckström, A. and Davie, G., with Edgardh, N. and Pettersson, P. (eds.), Welfare and Religion in 21st Century Europe (Volume I): Configuring the Connections, Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 25–38.Google Scholar
Kahl, S. (2005) ‘The religious roots of modern poverty policy: Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed Protestant traditions compared’, European Journal of Sociology, 46, 1, 91–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kautto, M. (1999) Nordic Social Policy: Changing Welfare States, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kautto, M., Fritzell, J., Hvinden, B., Kvist, J. and Uusitalo, H. (eds.) (2001) Nordic Welfare States in the European Context, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kuhnle, S. and Selle, P. (1992) Government and Voluntary Organisations: A Relational Perspective, Farnham: Avebury.Google Scholar
Leibfried, S. (1992) ‘Towards a European welfare state: on integrating poverty regimes in the European Community’, in Ferge, Z. and Kolberg, J. E. (eds.), Social Policy in a Changing Europe, Frankfurt: Campus Verlag, pp. 133–56.Google Scholar
Leis, A. (2004) Den kyrkliga diakonins roll inom ramen för två välfärdssystem: en jämförande fallstudie av två diakoniinstitutioner i Sverige och Tyskland, Uppsala: Institute for Diaconal and Social Studies.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. (1992) ‘Gender and the development of welfare regimes’, Journal of European Social Policy, 2, 3, 159–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, J. (1997) ‘Gender and welfare regimes: further thoughts’, Social Politics, 4, 2, 160–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipset, S. M. and Rokkan, S. (eds.) (1964) Party Systems and Voter Alignments, New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Manow, P. (2004) ‘The “good, the bad and the ugly”: Esping-Andersen's welfare state typology and the religious roots of the western welfare state’, Working paper 04/03, Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Cologne.Google Scholar
Martin, D. (1978) A General Theory of Secularization, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Sainsbury, D. (1999) Gender and Welfare State Regimes, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Kersbergen, K. and Manow, P. (eds.) (2009) Religion, Class Coalitions and Welfare State Regimes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeung, A. B. (2003) ‘The re-emergence of the church in the Finnish public life? Christian social work as an indicator of the public status of the church’, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 18, 2, 197–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeung, A., Edgardh Beckman, N. and Pettersson, P. (eds.) (2006a), Churches in Europe as Agents of Welfare: Sweden, Norway and Finland, Working paper 2.1 from the project Welfare and Religion in a European Perspective, Uppsala: Uppsala Institute for Diaconal and Social Studies.Google Scholar
Yeung, A., Edgardh Beckman, N. and Pettersson, P. (eds.) (2006b) Churches in Europe as Agents of Welfare: England, Germany, France, Italy and Greece, Working paper 2:2 from the project Welfare and Religion in a European Perspective, Uppsala: Uppsala Institute for Diaconal and Social Studies.Google Scholar