Community Organization as a Source of Inspiration for European Social Welfare Practices.

This paper discusses the penetration of community organization in social welfare practices of continental Europe since the 1950s and its topicality at the beginning of the 21st century. So as to outline the diversity in local situations, the paper is based on sociological and historical research into two contrasted cases, France and the Netherlands. The paper argues that community organization was warmly welcome in the Netherlands and there it became a branch of social welfare work in itself. In France however, resistances were stronger and community organization never developed as a field of social welfare practice as such. In spite of these historical differences there is now a converging trend - as well as in other European countries - resulting from major changes in governmental approaches to social problems in urban settings since the early 1990s. Community organization is not named as such in every country but its influence in social welfare practices is obvious in many countries, even in France. Nonetheless, the forms and the goals of community organization are slightly different to what developed in the Netherlands in the 1960s and the 1970s. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]