Intermediary Structures and the Welfare State: The Role of the Churches in Western Europe

Research question/goal: 

Research on the welfare state has rather neglected the role of intermediary structures in the production of social welfare. In particular the churches have been playing a major role in the provision of social welfare long before the modern welfare state was founded. Still, there are huge variations in the welfare production of the churches to be be found across Western Europe. These will be analysed and explained from a comparative perspective.

Fact sheet

Funding: 
DFG
Duration: 
1999 to 2004
Status: 
completed
Data Sources: 
Organisation survey
Geographic Space: 
Western Europe

Publications

Books

Fix, Birgit, and Elisabeth Fix (2005): Kirche und Wohlfahrtsstaat. Soziale Arbeit kirchlicher Wohlfahrtsorganisationen im westeuropäischen Vergleich. Freiburg: Lambertus. more
Fix, Birgit (2001): Religion und Familienpolitik: Deutschland, Belgien, Österreich und die Niederlande im Vergleich. Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag. more

Journal Articles

Fix, Birgit (2003): Social Work of Relgious Welfare Associations in Western Europe. EURODATA NEWSLETTER, issue 16/17, pp. 1-6. more
Fix, Birgit, and Elisabeth Fix (2002): Europa ante portas. Chancen und Risiken für die Caritas. Caritas-Mitteilungen, issue 1, pp. 23-35. more
Fix, Birgit, and Elisabeth Fix (2002): From charity of client-oriented social services production: a social profile of religious welfare associations in Western European comparison. European Journal of Social Work, 5, issue 1, pp. 55-62. more
Fix, Birgit, and Elisabeth Fix (2002): Sozialmarkt fördert Kundenorientierung. Neue Caritas, 103, issue 14, pp. 27-32. more
Fix, Birgit, and Elisabeth Fix (2001): Schulterschluß der katholischen Sozialarbeit. Neue Caritas, 102, issue 7, pp. 18-22. more

Book Chapters

Fix, Birgit (2003): Familienpolitik im internationalen Vergleich. Von Europa lernen. Martin R. Textor (Ed.) Online-Familienhandbuch. München: Staatsinstitut für Frühpädagogik. more
Fix, Birgit (2003): Kinderbetreuung in Frankreich, Finnland und Schweden. Martin R. Textor (Ed.) Kindergartenpädagogik Online-Handbuch. 1st ed., München: http://www.kindergartenpaedagogik.de/913.html. more
Fix, Birgit (2000): Church-state relations and the development of child care in Austria, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. Pp. 305-321 in: Astrid Pfenning, Thomas Bahle (Eds.) Families and Family Policies in Europe. Comparative Perspectives. Frankfurt: Peter Lang. more