Die „neue Mitleidsökonomie“ – Symptom des wohlfahrtsstaatlichen Strukturwandels

The emergence and expansion of food banks, soup kitchens as well as charity shops for clothing and furniture can be understood as the establishment of a new system of poverty alleviation, which the article describes as a “new charity economy”. From a welfare state analytical perspective, their establishment in the 21st century is a symptom of the current transformation of the welfare state. The charity economy is situated in the shadow of the welfare state context and is no longer mediated through individual rights. Rather, the support is largely moderated by compassion and pity, goes hand in hand with the dependence on volunteer work and donations and is at the same time dependent on economic interests. From a social analysis perspective, it can be shown that the system is accompanied by a specific form of secondary integration, which, however, takes place under the conditions of exclusion.