WP49 Responsible

[SCP-27] - The Social and Cultural Planning Office (Den Haag)

WP49 Responsible for Spread of Excellence

[SCP-27] - The Social and Cultural Planning Office (Den Haag)

WP49 Objectives

1. Integrating diverse research (and linking researchers) in Europe in the area of the role of religion in present-day civil society

2. Making results of relevant to and available for policymakers and civil society organisations, including religious organisations

WP49 Description of work

The role of religion in civil society has attracted much attention in Europe in recent years, but research and discussions seem to be rather fragmented. One field is the relevance of religious values, beliefs, and practices, as a resource for individual involvement (why do religious people volunteer more, which aspects of religion are decisive, what are the spill-over effects to secular areas of voluntary involvement? etc.). Another is about religious organisations as NPO’s and NGO’s, functioning as service deliverers in competition with or complementary to public organisations, or more or less as subcontractors of the welfare state (How do countries differ in this respect, what about the neutrality of the state, what are the consequences of state subsidies for value orientations, volunteering etc., generated in the organisations?). Thirdly, there is a specific interest (probably more a policy interest than a topic for much research) in the dangers of religion for civil society: the risks of religious isolation from secular society, religious polarization and conflict, and nowadays, of course, the risks of fundamentalism and religious legitimized terrorism.
There is hardly any discussion between these fields and also little cross-national comparative discussion about research in the separate fields. There is comparative empirical research with international data sets that include information about values, volunteering and NPO’s, but there is not much comparative qualitative, historical, and theoretical discussion in Europe. Analyses often seem to be more focused on testing hypotheses derived from US-research (or simply showing that US-findings do not apply in various European countries) than on explaining differences between European countries concerning the role of religion in civil society – from the perspectives of individual ators, voluntary associations, and their connections with states and markets.
This proposal focuses on the integration of the diversity of approaches. In the present situation, bringing together researchers from different countries and different parts of the field, is important as such. In a first workshop we want to invite a diverse group of about 15-20 researchers with a good overview of the work done in their countries. The workshop should result in plans for integrating scientific papers and a more popular co-produced state-of-of-the art essay, to be discussed in a conference half a year later. This conference should include public and religious policymakers as speakers and discussants. At the meeting there will also be decided how the essay en the papers can be published. An edited volume is not our first choice. A special issue of a scientific journal would be great, but one or more articles would be satisfying too.

WP49 Participants

WP49 Documents

For documents of this work package, please go to CINEFOGO Outcomes Database and type WP49 in the Search field.