Rhetorics of Welfare: Uncertainty, Choice and Voluntary Associations

The book explores comparatively the role of non-profit organizations in conditions of social and economic change. The focus is an investigation of the proposition that non-profit organizations provide sites and processes for enhancing active citizenship, invigorating the public sphere and extending political participation. This is the first national study of the third-sector in Australia, but its conclusions have a general relevance to deregulated welfare societies in Europe and North America.