From Protestant Ethics to Catholic Ethics: Transformation of the Social Welfare Mindset

This study examines the transformation of the welfare mindset within a moral framework, thereby engendering a profound discourse concerning the shift from Protestant ethics to Catholic ethics. The advent of globalization has unleashed reverberations that have begun to unsettle the very foundations of the welfare state. Protestant ethics deems destitution as a moral failing and dismisses the notion of magnanimous individuals perceiving benevolence toward the indigent as a vehicle for personal salvation. Pivotal concepts such as solidarity, communal harmony, and the aspiration for an equitable society have become crucial in the transformation of the welfare mentality since the 1970s. The welfare state has undergone a transformation by seeking moral legitimacy informed by Catholic tradition, signaling a pronounced shift from the precepts of Protestant ethics toward those of Catholic ethics. Social welfare will now be orchestrated with recourse to the Catholic ethical framework of solidarity and mutual assistance rather than the Protestant work ethic. This inquiry traverses the epoch commencing with the welfare state crisis, not merely by alluding to processes such as the curtailment of state intervention and the emergence of novel actors within the domain of social welfare but by advancing the contention of a revival of Catholic ethics.