Ebook: Faith-Based Organizations and Social Welfare
- Tags: Political Science and International Relations, European Politics, Politics and Religion, Democracy, Politics of the Welfare State, Political Sociology, Social Choice/Welfare Economics/Public Choice
- Series: Palgrave Studies in Religion Politics and Policy
- Year: 2019
- Publisher: Springer International Publishing
- Edition: 1st ed.
- Language: English
- pdf
This volume examines the role and function of religious-based organizations in strengthening associational life in a representative sample of West European countries: newly democratized and long-established democracies, societies with and without a dominant religious tradition, and welfare states with different levels and types of state-provided social services. It asks how faith-based organizations, in a time of economic crisis, and with declining numbers of adherents, might contribute to the deepening of democracy. Throughout, the volume invites social scientists to consider the on-going role of faith-based organizations in Western European civil society, and investigates whether the concept of muted vibrancy aids our theoretical understanding.