LectureHop: Faith in Welfare?
Photo via operacijagrad.org
On Thursday afternoon, Liz Jacob, Bwog’s Charitable Affairs Bureau Chief, ventured into the bowels of SIPA to report on a lecture by Jason Hackworth, associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Geography and Urban Planning.
Hackworth opened his discussion with a brief analysis one of field’s most popular buzzwords—neoliberalism. Often decried by a public looking to the state for social reform, neoliberalism features the principle of limited government. Indeed, the apparent lack of intervention in issues of public welfare is almost universally seen as a “failure” of government.
Prominent in today’s news media, the “broken” state is a scapegoat for all social deficiencies in the public sphere. As a result, conservatives and liberals alike have come to increasingly support the development of private charities as an antidote to governmental failure. Here, Hackworth identifies specifically the prevalence of faith-based organizations, or FBOs.
Liberals and conservatives alike have increasingly come to support to development of private charities as an antidote to governmental failures. According to Hackworth, faith-based organizations (FBO’s) are the most prominent of these private organizations, and can be seen in four ways: as extensions of the state, enhancements of the state, catalysts for change, or alternatives to the state. Faith-based organizations receiving state funding are limited to secular work, and consequently, they function along the lines of NGOs.
Those who support an increased religious presence in governmental affairs argue that FBOs are superior to public works organizations. Following this line of reasoning, faith-based organizations can also serve to inspire political change or, even more radically, serve as a replacement for state welfare programs altogether.
Tags: canadians, lecturehop, religion, welfare
12 March 2010 @ 5:44 PM · 3 comments
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