Modern Welfare And ‘Good Old’ Philanthropy

Abstract

This article identifies a number of parallels between nineteenth-century philanthropy and contemporary social work that have so far received little attention in the ongoing debate on the relation between philanthropy and modern welfare. While adopting a critical perspective on social philanthropy, it does not take a definitive stance on the question of whether philanthropy cements marginality or constitutes a progressive agent for social change. Philanthropy's role in social policy can hardly be generalized across time and space; instead, its strategic functions must be examined in specific societies and at specific historical junctures. For this purpose the question of the relationship between philanthropy and modern welfare is re-formulated using Foucault's concept of ‘dispositive’. A series of decisive inventions that emerged from nineteenth-century poor relief are identified. Most importantly, the philanthropists gave twentieth-century social policy a recipient who is not a subject of formal rights, but possesses a series of social duties and responsibilities.

Key words:

• Dispositive
• Foucault
• philanthropic poor relief
• social policy
• social work

Notes

The term ‘social philanthropist’, rarely used today, signified in the nineteenth century an attention to fight emerging social problems, or ‘social evils’, such as problems of poverty, begging, infectious diseases and unemployment.

The analysis draws upon a more extensive study of the historical development of social work, encompassing approximately forty texts on philanthropy from 1800–1900 (Villadsen 2004).