Patterns of Institutional Relations in the Welfare State: Public Mandates and the Nonprofit Sector

Abstract

Patterns of institutional relations in the American welfare state are shaped by two major driving forces in American society: (1) the execution of public mandates with its dependency on nonprofit and other nongovernmental service providers, and (2) by the intrusion and dominance of the American capitalist system. These two driving forces combine to produce four patterns of nonprofit-public interactions: Cooperation, characterized by public sector dependence on the nonprofit sector and the absence of a strong proprietary sector; Accommodation, characterized by public sector dependence on the nonprofit sector and the presence of a strong proprietary sector; Competition, characterized by the absence of a strong proprietary sector and the absence of public sector dependence on nonprofit service providers; and Sym biosis, characterized by absence of public sector dependence on nonprofit service providers and the presence of strong proprietary actors. The theoretical model is derived from an examination of public-nonprofit interactions in several different service sectors in Chicago. The paper traces the historical emergence of these four patterns in Chicago, using child care, health, education, and the housing and community development areas to demonstrate the patterns and the processes by which they developed.