Voluntary Agencies in the Welfare State

Ralph M. Kramer

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9780520304635
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780520309708
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

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.

Many titles in the Voices Revived program are also newly available as ebooks, offered at a discounted price to support wider access to scholarly work.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• TABLES AND FIGURES
• FOREWORD
• 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