Religion, Class Coalitions, and Welfare States

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511626784

Search within full text

This book radically revises established knowledge in comparative welfare state studies and introduces a new perspective on how religion shaped modern social protection systems. The interplay of societal cleavage structures and electoral rules produced the different political class coalitions sustaining the three welfare regimes of the Western world. In countries with proportional electoral systems the absence or presence of state–church conflicts decided whether class remained the dominant source of coalition building or whether a political logic not exclusively based on socio-economic interests (e.g. religion) was introduced into politics, particularly social policy. The political class-coalitions in countries with majoritarian systems, on the other hand, allowed only for the residual-liberal welfare state to emerge, as in the US or the UK. This book also reconsiders the role of Protestantism. Reformed Protestantism substantially delayed and restricted modern social policy. The Lutheran state churches positively contributed to the introduction of social protection programs.

“Religion, Class Coalitions, and Welfare States is the most authoritative work so far on the impact of religion on welfare state development. It provides us with both a grand theoretical perspective and hugely rich analysis of how Protestantism and Catholicism meshed with politics and class in the evolution of social policies in Europe and America. This book has no rivals and is unlikely to have any for some time to come. It will have a tremendous impact on welfare state research in the coming years. This is historical and comparative social science at its very best, and Van Kersbergen and Manow deserve our thanks for putting it all together.”
-Gøsta Esping-Andersen, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona

“If you think you know everything about class coalitions and social policies, think again. Kees van Kersbergen and Philip Manow’s brilliant edited volume starts with the best recent work in political economy and pushes the cutting edge deep into history and contemporary policy debates. The book explains the origins and trajectories of different varieties of welfare states and traces out the roles that religion and conflicts over religion have played in the politics and political economies of advanced industrial societies. Scholars in economics, history, political science, policy studies, political economy, religion, and sociology will enjoy reading ten crisp chapters. Invite the contributors over to dinner at your own risk–they all know how to talk about politics, religion, and economics.”
-Andrew C. Gould, University of Notre Dame

“This is a brilliant volume, which compels wide attention in the field of comparative politics, political economy, social policy, the welfare state and religion. It constructs a coherent account of the origins of the welfare state which integrates religious and economic cleavages, electoral rules and political institutions, in a historically grounded, theoretically tight manner. It challenges previous theories while moving the argument forward. A great book, a must read!”
-Peter Gourevitch, University of California, San Diego

“This book is an intellectual tour de force on the role of religion in the development of the modern welfare state. The editors outline an entirely new approach to the field, and the individual chapters offer a goldmine of historical research. It will become a standard reference for anyone interested in political parties and in European social, economic and political history.”
-Torben Iversen, Harvard University

“This superb and highly integrated edited volume will be a central reference point for work on the role of religion in the political construction and evolution of the welfare state and more generally comparative political economy. It contains six excellent country chapters with serious historical depth. And it is structured analytically around the coalitions which Christian democratic and social democratic parties have been able to forge in different types of electoral systems, an analysis which Manow has played a large part in developing. We should be grateful to van Kersbergen and Manow for producing an unusually coherent and useful book.”
-David Soskice, Duke University

- Aa Reduce text
- Aa Enlarge text

View selected items
Save to my bookmarks
Export citations
Download PDF (zip)
Save to Kindle
Save to Dropbox
Save to Google Drive
Save content to
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to .

To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Please be advised that item(s) you selected are not available.
You are about to save
Your Kindle email address

Please provide your Kindle email.

@free.kindle.com @kindle.com (service fees apply)

By using this service, you agree that you will only keep content for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services

Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv
- - You have access
- PDF
- Export citation

Contents
pp v-vi
- - You have access
- PDF
- Export citation

Preface
pp vii-x
- By Kees van Kersbergen, Philip Manow
- - You have access
- PDF
- Export citation

List of Contributors
pp xi-xiv
- - You have access
- PDF
- Export citation

1 - Religion and the Western Welfare State – The Theoretical Context
pp 1-38
- By Philip Manow, Kees Van Kersbergen
- - You have access
- PDF
- Export citation

2 - Western European Party Systems and the Religious Cleavage
pp 39-55
- By Thomas Ertman
- - You have access
- PDF
- Export citation

3 - The Religious Foundations of Work-Family Policies in Western Europe
pp 56-90
- By Kimberly J. Morgan
- - You have access
- PDF
- Export citation

4 - Italy: A Christian Democratic or Clientelist Welfare State?
pp 91-118
- By Julia Lynch
- - You have access
- PDF
- Export citation

5 - Religion and the Welfare State in the Netherlands
pp 119-145
- By Kees Van Kersbergen
- - You have access
- PDF
- Export citation

7 - Religion and the Consolidation of the Swiss Welfare State, 1848–1945
pp 176-209
- By Herbert Obinger
- - You have access
- PDF
- Export citation

8 - The Church as Nation? The Role of Religion in the Development of the Swedish Welfare State
pp 210-235
- By Karen M. Anderson
- - You have access
- PDF
- Export citation

9 - The Religious Factor in U.S. Welfare State Politics
pp 236-266
- By Jill Quadagno, Deana Rohlinger
- - You have access
- PDF
- Export citation

10 - Religious Doctrines and Poor Relief: A Different Causal Pathway
pp 267-296
- By Sigrun Kahl
- - You have access
- PDF
- Export citation

Index
pp 297-304
- - You have access
- PDF
- Export citation

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Total number of HTML views: 0

Total number of PDF views: 0 *

Loading metrics...

Total views: 0 *

Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

Religion, Class Coalitions, and Welfare States

This Book has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by Crossref.

Book description

Reviews

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv

Contents
pp v-vi

Preface
pp vii-x

List of Contributors
pp xi-xiv

1 - Religion and the Western Welfare State – The Theoretical Context
pp 1-38

2 - Western European Party Systems and the Religious Cleavage
pp 39-55

3 - The Religious Foundations of Work-Family Policies in Western Europe
pp 56-90

4 - Italy: A Christian Democratic or Clientelist Welfare State?
pp 91-118

5 - Religion and the Welfare State in the Netherlands
pp 119-145

6 - A Conservative Welfare State Regime without Christian Democracy? The French État-Providence, 1880–1960
pp 146-175

7 - Religion and the Consolidation of the Swiss Welfare State, 1848–1945
pp 176-209

8 - The Church as Nation? The Role of Religion in the Development of the Swedish Welfare State
pp 210-235

9 - The Religious Factor in U.S. Welfare State Politics
pp 236-266

10 - Religious Doctrines and Poor Relief: A Different Causal Pathway
pp 267-296

Index
pp 297-304

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Book summary page views

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

Accessibility Information

Religion, Class Coalitions, and Welfare States

Book description

Reviews

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Save Search

Contents

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Book summary page views

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

Accessibility Information