Catholicism, social economy and local welfare in times of crisis : comparing Spanish and Italian territories

Abstract

Interactions between politics and religion are frequently reduced to mediatized and politicized ethical and civilizational issues. Focusing instead on the role of religious - here Catholic - actors in the local experience of the social economy and welfare provision in times of economic crisis helps instead to highlight the discrete interactions between politics and religion. In particular, the strong involvement of religious actors, beyond their traditional charity-oriented activity, also concerns more solidarity-oriented socioeconomic experiences as well as political advocacy. These articulations generate new forms of politicization with respect to both social movements and policy makers. These issues are addressed here comparatively in a Spanish region (the Basque Autonomous Community) and an Italian region (Emilia-Romagna).