Caring for the Socially Marginalised in Interwar Europe, 1919-1939

"This book is a timely intervention into the history of the welfare state, showing how efforts to raise the living conditions of vulnerable social groups shaped welfare systems and social order. Its well-conceived case studies from the interwar period illuminate the interplay of voluntary action and public policy in a truly pan-European perspective."

-Norbert Götz, Södertörn University

"This volume explores how public and private actors combined in endeavours to assist, discipline, segregate and integrate particularly vulnerable and marginalised population groups in interwar Europe. One of its main strengths is a wide geographic scope that reaches from Spain to Lithuania and from Italy to Denmark."

-Beate Althammer, Humboldt University of Berlin

This book investigates the mixed economy of welfare that assisted socially marginalised people in interwar Europe, namely the state, local authorities, and a combination of voluntary and informal actors. While literature has traditionally emphasised the key role of the state, the cooperation between public authorities and private actors has always been a staple of social policy in Europe throughout history. The interwar years prominently featured these entanglements between the increased public sphere of action and the voluntary sector. Focusing on three thematic areas: warfare and its effects; boundaries of aid and institutional segregation; and gender and religion, the authors present case studies from various European countries between 1919 and 1939. All contributions explore the variegated world that composed the so-called mixed economy of welfare. By shifting the emphasis to the collaborations and frictions between social marginals, non-state actors, and public authorities on a local, national, and transnational level, the book challenges too simplistic distinctions between public and private initiatives and reveals the cultural, political, and practical common traits that featured in European care for marginals across a variety of geographical variations and socio-political contexts.

Michele Mioni is a Research Associate at the Centre d'Histoire Sociale des Mondes Contemporains (CHS) at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, in France.

Stefano Petrungaro is Associate Professor of the History of Eastern Europe at Ca' Foscari University in Venice, Italy.