Researching civicness contexts and conditions: the case of the Portuguese welfare mix in social services

Abstract

This chapter describes the existing arrangements and recent trends of reform in the welfare mix of social services in Portugal, using the analytical frameworks provided by welfare pluralism and governance literatures. It considers the features and trajectory of this southern European welfare state to discuss the contextuality of the conditions for civicness in social services, arguing that the co-evolution of state and third sector has hampered the emergence of a civicness discourse in Portugal. However, new mixes between state, market and society forms of welfare, some of which have been inspired by European social policies, are bringing changes in which the concept of civicness can be perceived.