Local Welfare Systems: A Challenge for Social Cohesion

Abstract

In recent decades, local welfare systems have been emerging in many Western countries as a consequence of bottom–up and top–down transformative pressures. Local welfare systems are defined as dynamic arrangements in which the specific local socioeconomic and cultural conditions give rise to different mixes of formal and informal actors, public or not, involved in the provision of welfare resources. This article presents some of the most important implications related to the emergence of local welfare systems and the challenges they face in seeking to build social cohesion. After a brief description of the reasons that justify a local approach to welfare, an account is provided of the scientific debate on local welfare and an indication given of the possible relations and tensions between the emergence of local welfare systems and the production of social cohesion.