Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T12:12:47.924Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Quiet Care: Welfare Work and Religious Congregations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2009

Margaret Harris
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The potential of non-governmental agencies as providers of welfare services is increasingly recognised but little attention has been given to the welfare-providing role of religious congregations. This article draws on four case studies to describe and analyse the range of congregational welfare activities. Six types of welfare work are distinguished: welfare projects, indirect welfare work, informal care, informal care in an organised framework, mutual aid and social integration. Distinctive features of congregational welfare work are identified. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the findings and considering whether there is scope for expanding the contribution of congregations to the mixed economy of welfare.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , January 1995 , pp. 53 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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

REFERENCES

Abrams, P., Abrams, S., Humphrey, R. and Snaith, R. (1981), Action for Care: A Review of Good Neighbour Schemes in England, The volunteer Centre, Berkhamsted.Google Scholar
Ballinger, F. (1988), ‘Congregating care’, Community Care, 4 02, 18–19.Google Scholar
Billis, D. (1992), Organising Public and Voluntary Agencies, Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Billis, D. and Harris, M. (1992), ‘Taking the strain of change: UK local voluntary agencies enter the post-Thatcher period’, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 21: 3, 211–26.Google Scholar
Bowpitt, G. (1989), ‘The Church of England and social policy in the 1980s’, in Brenton, M. and Ungerson, C. (eds.) Social Policy Review 1988–1989, Longman, London.Google Scholar
Bulmer, M. (1986), Neighbours: The Work of Philip Abrams, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Bulmer, M. (1987), The Social Basis of Community Care, Allen and Unwin, London.Google Scholar
Butler, R. and Wilson, D. (1990), Managing Voluntary and Non-Profit Organizations: Strategy and Structure, Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Carr, W. (1985), The Priestlike Task, SPCK, London.Google Scholar
Clark, E. (1989), Commitment to Community? The Church's Role in Care In the Community, Joint Care in the Community Project, Kent Ecumenical Council, Maidstone.Google Scholar
Coate, M. (1989), Clergy Stress: The Hidden Conflicts in Ministry, SPCK, London.Google Scholar
Darvill, G. and Munday, B. (eds.) (1984), Volunteers in the Personal Social Services, Tavistock, London.Google Scholar
Dempsey, K. (1989), ‘is religion still relevant in the private sphere: the state of organised religion in an Australian rural community’, Sociological Analysis, 50: 3, 247–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, A. (1989), ‘No voice, no safety net for the needy’, The Guardian, 18 01.Google Scholar
Glennerster, H., Power, A. and Travers, T. (1991), ‘A new era for social policy: a new enlightenment or a new Leviathan?’, Journal of Social Policy, 20: 3, 389–414.Google Scholar
Harris, M. (1990), ‘Voluntary leaders in voluntary welfare agencies’, Social Policy and Administration, 24: 2, 156–67.Google Scholar
Hasenfeld, Y. (1992), Human Services as Complex Organizations, Sage, London.Google Scholar
HMSO (1992), The Individual and the Community: The Role of the Voluntary Sector, Home Office and Central Office of Information, London.Google Scholar
Home Office (1990), Efficiency Scrutiny of Government Funding of the Voluntary Sector, Profiting from Partnership, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Hopewell, J. (1987), Congregation: Stories and Structures, SCM Press, London.Google Scholar
Hornsby-Smith, M. (1989), The Changing Parish: A Study of Parishes. Priests, and Parishioners after Vatican II. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Jerrome, D. (1989), ‘Age relations in an English church’, Sociological Review, 37: 4, 761–84.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. (1993), ‘Developing the mixed economy of care: emerging issues for voluntary organisations’, Journal of Social Policy, 22: 2, 173–92.Google Scholar
Litwak, E. (1985), Helping the Elderly: The Complementary Roles of Informal Networks and Formal Systems, Guildford Press, New York.Google Scholar
Midgley, J. (1990), ‘Religion, politics and social policy: the case of the new Christian Right’, Journal of Social Policy, 19: 3, 397–403.Google Scholar
Pateman, C. (1989), The Disorder of Women: Democracy, Feminism and Political Theory, Polity Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Reinharz, S. (1983), ‘Experiential analysis: a contribution to feminist research’, in Bowles, G. and Klein, R. Duelli (eds.) Theories of Women's Studies, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.Google Scholar
Richardson, A. and Goodman, M. (1983), Self-Help and Social Care, Policy Studies Institute, London.Google Scholar
Russell, A. (1980), The Clerical Profession, SPCK, London.Google Scholar
The Tablet (1990), ‘The most radical movement this century’, The Tablet, 25 09, 1207.Google Scholar
Taylor-Gooby, P. (1987), ‘Welfare attitudes: cleavage, consensus and citizenship’, Quarterly Journal of Social Affairs, 3: 3, 199–211.Google Scholar
Volunteer Centre UK (1991), The 1991 National Survey of Voluntary Activity, The Volunteer Centre UK, Berkhamsted.Google Scholar
Ware, A. (1989), Between Profit and State: Intermediate Organizations in Britain and the United States, Polity Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Webb, R. (1974), ‘Organizational effectiveness and the voluntary organization’, Academy of Management Journal, 17, 12, 663–77.Google Scholar
Wolfe, A. (1989), Whose Keeper? Social Science and Moral Obligation, University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar