Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
As austerity measures continue to lead to cutbacks in basic social services, a number of grassroots organizations have grown up or expanded throughout Europe to help provide for citizens' basic needs. This book looks at a number of both secular and faith-based groups in Berlin and London to show how they and their activism have evolved in response to those changes in economic policy. It brings together scholars from different disciplines and practitioners in several areas of social intervention to explore how the very ideas of citizenship and community have begun to change in the wake of cutbacks to the welfare state.
Synopsis
The politics of austerity has seen governments across Europe cut back on welfare provision. Bringing together scholars and practitioners, this book explores secular and faith-based grassroots social action in Germany and UK that has evolved in response. The book provides new ways of thinking about social and political belonging and about the relations between individual, collective and State social responsibility.
Synopsis
The politics of austerity has seen governments across Europe cut back on welfare provision. As the State retreats, this edited collection explores secular and faith-based grassroots social action in Germany and the United Kingdom that has evolved in response to changing economic policy and expanding needs, from basic items such as food to more complex means to move out of poverty. Bringing together scholars from different disciplines and practitioners in several areas of social intervention, the book explores how the conceptualization and constitutive practices of citizenship and community are changing because of the retreat of the State and the challenge of meeting social and material needs, creating new opportunities for local activism. The book provides new ways of thinking about social and political belonging and about the relations between individual, collective, and State responsibility.