Tři archetypy evropské sociální politiky
The Three Archetypes of European Social Policy

Author(s): František Svoboda
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, History, Social Sciences, Sociology, Economic history, Political history, Welfare systems, Evaluation research, Welfare services
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: Economics; desire for justice; European Social Policy; use of private property for philanthropic and charitable purposes;
Summary/Abstract: A brief look into an etymological dictionary will show that the term economics is indirectly derived from the word nemein, meaning distribute, allot, apportion one‘s due. This implication is connected with the name of the Greek goddess of vengeance, Nemesis. The word economics therefore includes more than just a concern for economy: italso embodies the desire for justice.With respect to justice, the book does not consider its commutative form, but rather the distributive branch, where the examined problem consists in the use of private property for philanthropic and charitable purposes as opposed to the selfishness of one’s own benefit. In its final shape, the text subsumes three institutions of charity, or three universal patterns of behavior transmitted by education and culture, whose long line of development within European civilization can be followed from today’s complex system of social policies back to the realizations adopted in ancient Greece and Rome, obviously not excluding the essential intermezzo of medieval Christianity. The three institutions of charity are as follows: a gift (or alms), work (or an offer of sustenance), and loan. Eventhough specific activities of charitable organizations have been periodically transformed along with changes within the cultural and economic milieu, the patterns of human behavior remained the same.

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