Voluntary Agencies in the Welfare State / Ralph M. Kramer ; with a foreword by Harold L. Wilensky.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kramer, Ralph M., author.

Contributor:

Wilensky, Harold L., writer of foreword.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social service.

Social policy.

Voluntarism.

Welfare state.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (368 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [1981]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The rise of the welfare state threatens the autonomy and survival of nonprofit voluntary agencies as providers of social services. Or does it? In this cross-national, empirical study of the workings of voluntary agencies, Ralph M. Kramer cuts through the conceptual confusion surrounding voluntarism and the boundaries between the public and private sectors. He draws on a survey of voluntary agencies helping disabled people in four welfare democracies (the United States, England, Israel, and the Netherlands) to explain the virtues and flaws of different patterns of government-voluntary relationships in coping with the growing demand for human services. Kramer concludes that many of the most cherished beliefs about the voluntary sector have little basis in fact. The most innovative agencies, for example, are not the smallest, but rather among the largest, most bureaucratized, and most professionalized. Government funding does not necessarily constrain agency autonomy. And giving voluntary agencies the primary responsibility for social services can reduce, not increase, citizen participation. This comparative analysis of the distinctive competence, vulnerability, and potential of the voluntary agency should replace some of the myths that guide public policy and the day-to-day activities of social service agencies. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1981.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

List of Tables and Figures

Foreword by Harold L. Wilensky

Preface

Acronyms and Foreign Words

Introduction

1. The Netherlands: The Primacy of Private Initiative

2. England: Statutory Supplementer

3. The United States: A Mixed Economy

4. Israel: The Close Partnership

5. Organizational Structure

6. Governance Systems

7. Fiscal Resource Systems

8. The Use of Governmental Funds

9. The Vanguard Role or Service Pioneer

10. The Value Guardian Role and Volunteerism

11. The Improver Role and Advocacy

12. The Service Provider Role

13. The Distinctive Competence and Vulnerability of the Voluntary Agency

14. Alternative Futures for Voluntary Organizations in the Welfare State

Appendix: Voluntary Agencies Included in the Sample

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780520309708

0520309707

OCLC:

1149434872