Social welfare and religion in the Middle East
A Lebanese perspective
- Author/Editor(s):
- Rana Jawad
- Format:
- Hardback , 328 pages , 240 x 172 mm
- ISBN
- 9781861349538
- Published:
- 29 Jul 2009
£52.00 - List price: £65.00 You save: £13.00
North America customers can order this book here.
This is a ground-breaking analysis of the contribution that religions make to social welfare programmes in the Middle East and to their wider involvement in social and economic development.
James A. Beckford, Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick
....a bold, coherent but also balanced and 'realist' dissection of the role and significance of religious belief and practice within social welfare provision.
Chris Baker in Journal of Social Policy
About This Book
As religion continues to regain its centrality in both academic and policy circles around the world, this book presents a new framework which examines the complex social and political dynamics shaping social welfare in the Middle East. Based on an in-depth study of the major Muslim and Christian religious welfare organisations in Lebanon (including Hezbollah), and drawing upon supplementary research conducted in Iran, Egypt and Turkey, the book argues that religion is providing sophisticated solutions to the major social and economic problems of the Middle East. It will be of use to students and academics of social policy, sociology, politics and Middle Eastern studies.
Author Biography
Rana Jawad is a lecturer in social policy at the University of Kent. Until recently she was a research fellow at the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, University of Warwick. Her main research interests are the roles of religion and culture in social policy, and the history of social policy, social movements and voluntary organisations. She has particular regional expertise on the Middle East and the UK.Contents
Introduction: religion and social policy: an old-new partnership
Religion and the foundations of social policy
Lebanon: a profile of political and welfare institutions
A philosophy of social service: faith or social insurance?
Systems of provision and welfare outcomes: defining and treating the causes of poverty
Social solidarity: between power and morality
Social ethics and welfare particularism
What next for the Middle East? Rereading history, re-visioning future possibilities of positive action.
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