Abstract
Notwithstanding some important exceptions, the relation between welfare and religion still occupies a low profile within studies on social policy. A notable exception in that respect is the book edited by van Kersbergen and Manow, Religion, Class Coalitions, and Welfare States (2009), which showed that the rise of distinctive social policy regimes could not be understood without taking into account religious cleavages and the role of political parties with a religious background in particular countries, i.e. historical facts which still have an explanatory power in the understanding of today’s differences in social policy. Welfare and Religion in 21st Century Europe could be seen as complementary to that book, at least in two dimensions. It gives a very detailed outline of how history and current processes are intertwined, and moreover how current social processes are changing the welfare structure in different countries, creating the space both for the voice of religious people and for the role of religious organizations. Secondly, eight European countries are presented, broadening our knowledge of a very particular, but nonetheless empirically and theoretically interesting, development of the reconfiguration between religion and welfare.
The book originated from the scientific project ‘Welfare and Religion in a European Perspective’ (WREP), in which the empirical work was done in 2004 and 2005, in the following European countries: Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, England, France, Italy, and Greece. The aim of the project was ‘to discover exactly what happens on an everyday basis in the fields of welfare and religion in Europe … and to ask what this can tell us about the changing nature of European societies’ (p. 1). The book confirms that there are a lot of changes, and contributes to their understanding. Maybe the most important insight is that the secularization theory, which argues about the diminishing role of religions in European societies and which is very probably accepted as a norm by scholars not familiar with new developments in the sociology of religion, proved to be wrong in some aspects. Contrary to expectations, there is a completely new or partly renewed role assumed by church-related organizations in the field of welfare, even in some very secularized countries, if one draws conclusions about secularization on the basis of commonly employed indicators (such as church service attendance). On the other hand, some other countries with a longer tradition of church involvement in welfare and/or in social work have also experienced some changes as the position of welfare actors is in constant flux. In that respect, differences among the countries which belong to the same welfare models (such as differences among Scandinavian social-democratic countries, or differences between Italy and Greece) are just fascinating, and contribute to our understanding of welfare configuration in a particular country.
It would be wrong to conclude that the issue here is only about offering services to people by church-related organizations. The issue is also about understanding people’s expectations, articulating their needs, and taking positions on different ethical and social issues as there are signs that irrespective of whether someone accepts the particular position of a church or not, there is a wide expectation that churches need to react. As explained by one of the authors in the case of England, the role of the church could be seen in three different ways: as a neutral ground (the church, with its resources, is widely present and open to people), as a mediator (has knowledge and expertise in the field of welfare), and as a critical voice (the capacity to be engaged in public debates over welfare issues). This also demonstrates that it would be wrong to conceptualize the involvement of churches as just another social agent, alongside an array of a growing number of profit and non-profit organizations in the welfare field. Even public debates about the ‘proper’ role of churches when it comes to welfare, or even in society in general, are a kind of confirmation that by studying religion and welfare we can better understand what is going on in reality.
There are maybe two somewhat critical remarks that can be directed to the book. Although it is fascinating in many aspects and although a comparative chapter was included, readers might expect more than just browsing through country case studies. However, the editors of the book have already addressed that by publishing a new book which analyses the same empirical material through a more comparative lens (Bäckström et al., 2011). Secondly, for social policy scholars it would be very obvious that the chapters were written mainly by sociologists of religion, although some important references to social policy literature are made as well, particularly in the introductory chapter. However, those who think and write about some key concepts in social policy (like recalibration of welfare, familialization/defamilialization, Europeanization, citizenship and welfare, the role of the voluntary sector in different social policy regimes, etc.) would benefit a lot by reading this book. The short chapter in the book on the benefits and problems of linguistic diversity in a comparative European project is also recommended.