| Abstract: | The social profile of Western European religious welfare associations has never been studied in empirical detail. It is the aim of a Mannheim comparative project to systematically collect data on the qualitative and quantitative dimension of church social service provision in Europe. There are huge variations in the organizational structure of religious welfare associations in the European countries, which to a great extent can be accounted for by the historical configurations of the church-state relationships. Starting from these organizational differences it can be suggested that also the range of social activities of religious welfare associations will vary all over Europe. Consequently, special light will be shed on the target groups for which social services are provided as well as on the number, form, and capacity of institutions operating in these fields. These data may provide an interesting insight into the internal structure of the third sector in general and into the national potentials of the churches in the face of a Europeanization of social policy in particular. |
