Older English churchgoing women as voluntary providers of welfare

The contribution of UK Christian churches to the provision of welfare projects, relying largely on a pool of volunteer labour, has long been recognised by a number of commentators. What is also now recognised is that it is women who have made up and still make up the majority of these volunteers but they are a largely ageing – and declining – population, hence the question arises as to whether most churches in Britain can continue to provide the same levels of support for much longer. This article considers the factors which have made women longstanding and committed individuals in both their churches and their civic communities, and argues that the same conditions do not pertain for their children. Unless more volunteers are forthcoming from secular organisations, we are likely to be seeing a significant gap in voluntary welfare provision at precisely the time when state funding for welfare is being drastically cut and more volunteers are needed, not fewer.     

礼仪和当代社会理论：权力、公民社会和自我认同

德裔社会学家诺贝特．爱理雅斯的《文明化进程》是礼仪研究领域的名著。本文介绍了它的基本观点，指出了它的不足之处，并在三种新的社会理论的视角下，重新审视了该理论和礼仪研究。爱理雅斯认为，西欧社会在中世纪末以后经历了一个”文明化”的过程，即人们更能够克制自我，言行举止更为谦恭有礼，其原因有二，一是国家对暴力的垄断，二是社会相互依赖性的增强。这一理论在文明化进程的一般性、历史起源及真实性等三个方面都存在着缺陷。礼仪研究和三种新社会理论可以在如下的条件下相互增益：福柯式的权力重新获得主体，公民社会有必要关注非政治动机，而自我认同则可以突现其历史性和日常性的一面。