Premium
Reclaiming Community? From Welfare Society to Welfare State in Australian Catholic Social Thought
Author(s) -
Smyth Paul
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
australian journal of politics and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-8497
pISSN - 0004-9522
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8497.00278
Subject(s) - civil society , welfare , welfare state , skepticism , state (computer science) , political science , welfare capitalism , social welfare , corporate governance , political economy , sociology , public administration , economics , law , politics , management , philosophy , epistemology , algorithm , computer science
Influenced by both conservative and left wing communitarian thinking, current debate about welfare governance in Australia reflects an inflated evaluation of the potential role of the third sector or civil society organisations in the production of welfare. This paper gives an overview of twentieth century Australian Catholic social thinking about state, market and civil society relations in the production of welfare. It highlights the neglected, historical role of the Catholic Church in promoting a “welfare society” over a “welfare state” in Australia. It points to the reasons for the Church's later embrace of the welfare state and suggests that these reasons should make us deeply sceptical of the current communitarian fad.