Germany is famous for the traditionally strong role of communities in the provision of personal social services. Until the 1990s, the bulk of these services, including social care, were provided by the so-called welfare associations (Wohlfahrtsverbände), non-profit organisations with deep roots in the local community. Strongly embedded in their respective socio-cultural milieu, the welfare associations were able to rely on a high degree of civic engagement. Moreover, the fact that they were organised along ideological lines guaranteed a strong cultural ‘fit’ between care givers and care receivers.

Since the 1980s, however, the role of the welfare associations in social care has undergone considerable change (Bönker and Wollmann, 1996, 2000; Heinze and Strünck, 2000). The welfare associations have not only lost market share, they have also become increasingly similar to commercial service providers. This double marketisation has been accompanied by changes in the level and form of civic engagement. On the one hand, the traditional forms of engagement, characterised by ‘lifelong and humble volunteering’ (Bode and Evers, 2005, p 113) within the confines of particular milieu and organisations, most notably the welfare associations, have suffered from erosion. On the other hand, new forms of civic engagement, with a more individualistic, project-type orientation, a greater demand for participation and a much less prominent role for the welfare associations, have gained importance and have increasingly attracted the interest of policy makers.

In this chapter, I analyse the changing forms of civic engagement in German social care, with a view to identifying major trends and policy issues. I start by sketching the old forms of civic engagement as they have defined the traditional social service regime. Next, I examine the factors that have contributed to the demise of this regime and to the erosion of the old forms of civic engagement. The third section then deals with the spread of new forms of civic engagement and discusses various attempts to encourage voluntary engagement in the field of social care. The chapter closes with a brief summary.

Civic engagement in the traditional social service Regime

From a comparative perspective, the social service regime that prevailed in Germany until the 1990s stood out because of the dominant position of the welfare associations (Bönker and Wollmann, 2000; Heinze and Strünck, 2000; Bode and Evers, 2005, pp 107-9).