Welfare and religion in Europe

Welfare and Religion in Europe Connections, Reflections and Extensions A three stage presentation The research story – a Swedish (Uppsala) initiative Thinking sociologically about welfare and religion – reflections and interpretations Further details The Research Story Uppsala Religion and Society Research Centre 20 years of research 1997-2018 1. From State Church to Free Folk Church (1997-2004) 2. Welfare and Religion in a European Perspective (2003-2007) 3. Welfare and Values in Europe (2006-2009) 4. The Impact of Religion (2008-2018) Welfare and Religion in a European perspective (WREP) A Comparative Study of the Role of the Churches as Agents of Welfare within the Social Economy Project period 2003-2007 25 researchers in 8 countries Funded by the Swedish Bank Tercentenary Foundation Further information is available on http://www.crs.uu.se/Research/former-research-projects/WREP/ The WREP team Qualitative case studies in middle-sized towns in eight countries • • • • • • • • Sweden Norway Finland England Germany France Italy Greece Gävle Drammen Lahti Darlington Reutlingen Evreux Vicenza Thiva and Livadeia Aim and findings The aim: • to analyze the function of majority churches (and attached organizations) as providers of social welfare in a comparative European perspective A distinctive (unsustainable?) pattern emerges: • an increase in the role of the majority churches in the public sphere (welfare initiatives – one example of this) • a decrease in the ‘traditional’ role of the churches in the private (individual) sphere – continuing secularization Welfare and Values in Europe (WaVE) Transitions related to religion, minorities and gender Project period 2006-2009 Funded by the EU 6th Framework Programme Further information is available on http://www.crs.uu.se/Research/former-research-projects/WaVE/ The WaVE team Qualitative case studies in 13 middle size towns in 12 countries New: Latvia Poland Croatia Romania Ogre Przemysl Sisak Medgidia Aims • to assess the impact of religion in societies across Europe as a bearer of values of solidarity and social cohesion, or as source of tension and exclusion • to study the values expressed by minority groups (religious minorities in particular), both in their use and special demands of welfare services • to bring to light the gender-related values underpinning conceptions of welfare and welfare provision Qualitative data drawn from local case studies • building on to the work established in WREP • mapping of majorities and minorities and relevant welfare arenas in each locality - Who does what? Who pays? Who is included/excluded? On what grounds? • in depth study of two local welfare arenas (e.g. school, health care) – concentrating on selected minorities • advantages and disadvantages: - the importance of local versus national frameworks - richness verses comparability Swedish Research Council – a call for applications for a ’Linneaus grant’ A research programme: • to support strong research environments • 10 year finance – freedom and responsibility • matched funding from the University in question For more details, see: http://www.crs.uu.se/Impact_of_religion/?languageId=1 • the work on welfare continues as one theme among many (six) • note similar ventures elsewhere in Europe (and beyond) Programme period 2008-2018 Financed by the Swedish Research Council and Uppsala University Religion and Society Programme The UK equivalent – see http://www.religionandsociety.org.uk/ A £12 programme bringing together a cluster of research projects concerned with the place of religion (in its broadest sense) in modern societies See in particular the Westminster Faith Debates – http://www.religionandsociety.org.uk/faith_debates which have brought selected findings from the programme to a wider public Religion and Diversity Project The Canadian equivalent – see http://religionanddiversity.ca/en/ A $2.5 million Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council funded Major Collaborative Research Initiative hosted at the University of Ottawa The project aims to address the following question: What are the contours of religious diversity in Canada and how can we best respond to the opportunities and challenges presented by religious diversity in ways that promote a just and peaceful society? Thinking sociologically about welfare and religion Interconnected fields First impressions 1945 on – religion and welfare are divergent (as institutions and as academic disciplines ) This is misleading – the two are closely connected and always have been At every stage of the process • the creation/expansion of the welfare state in different parts of post-war Europe • its gradual modifications in recent decades Religion as an independent variable – Philip Manow’s work Continuing readjustments Institutional adaptations as the 20th century progresses • both religion and welfare respond to external and internal changes • economic / demographic / political pressures Policy making shifts accordingly Academic reflection • driven by empirical enquiry (or not) • note in particular the social policy experts who respond to what they see is happening on the ground Public utilities or market driven Majority (state) churches and welfare states are public utilities • both are closely associated with the nation state Both have been challenged/eroded by expanding markets To what extent should this influence our thinking? In each case the market overlays a public utility • the associated mentalities • a significant but (so far) partial shift • very different from the US Selected illustrations • Finland – note the proximity to Russia, leading in the 1990s to specific welfare needs • England – the significance of Mrs Thatcher, and later of the Big Society (importance of the voluntary sector) • France – laïcité as a political doctrine continues to determine outcomes • Mediterranean Europe (Catholic/Orthodox) – a noticeably different story What do Europeans think? The responsibilities of the state are clear The state ‘should’ take care of welfare This is tempered by realism Given the state’s imperfections, it is a ‘good’ thing that the churches are there Churches have a dual role • as providers; as a ‘prophetic voice’ • are the two roles compatible? Enduring assumptions about gender The predominance of women at the level of delivery in both spheres – much less so in management: • the religious variables (practice, belief and importance of religion for life) • welfare practice – the care-givers Of course! From Finland to Greece, the answer was always the same: women do the caring because they are better at it, just as women do the praying – on behalf of everyone else Thinking theoretically: parallel accounts David Martin A General Theory of Secularization (1978) Gøsta Esping Andersen The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (1990) Both authors tell the same story, from a different point of view and both draw from a common source Seymour Lipset and Stein Rokkan Party Systems and Voter Alignments (1964) • who describe the underlying alignments/cleavages of European societies The religious and the secular An excellent illustration of the inter-penetrations of the religious and the secular Welfare states are profoundly influenced by theological/ecclesiological thinking (Max Weber) Welfare states become mirror images of the state churches • WREP and WaVE are full of examples • Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran The need to read Martin and Esping Andersen with this in mind The public and the private Situating churches in sociological analyses What has become know as the ‘welfare mix’ Welfare specialists have difficulty dealing with the contributions of the churches which do not fit the ‘normal’ categories • who should give way to whom? Eva Jeppsson Grassman in Welfare and Religion, Vol. 1 Per Pettersson in Welfare and Religion, Vol. 2 • state, market, voluntary sector, family . . . Further details See Davie, G. ‘A European perspective on religion and welfare: Contrasts and commonalities’, Social Policy and Society, 11/4, 2012: 989-99 Part of a themed section on Social Policy and Religion in Contemporary Britain http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?from Page=online&aid=8692142&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S147 4746412000310 WREP Anders Bäckström, Grace Davie, Ninna Edgardh and Per Pettersson) (eds), Welfare and Religion in 21st century Europe: Volume 1. Configuring the Connections. Aldershot: Ashgate 2010 Anders Bäckström, Grace Davie, Ninna Edgardh and Per Pettersson), Welfare and Religion in 21st century Europe: Volume 2. Gendered, Religious and Social Change. Farnham: Ashgate 2011 See the IMPACT programme website for continuing articles WaVE Welfare and Values in Europe: Transitions related to Religion, Minorities and Gender Volume 1: Northern Europe; Volume 2: Continental Europe; Volume 3: Eastern Europe National Overviews and Case Study Reports Introduction by Anders Bäckström, Uppsala University Pdfs available from http://www.crs.uu.se/Research/formerresearch-projects/WaVE/ See the IMPACT programme website for continuing articles