Paternal Care? A contemporary intellectual history of Lutheranism, gender and welfare
Name of applicant
Erik Sporon Fiedler
Title
Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution
The Danish Academy in Rome
Amount
DKK 1,299,075
Year
2023
Type of grant
Reintegration Fellowships
What?
The project investigates the historical and contemporary imprint of Lutheran Christianity on the Danish state’s welfare policy. It traces how the Danish welfare model has implicitly reproduced a gendered understanding of social relations that has its basis in a Lutheran understanding of the household. This also influences on todays social policy in the dual ethical principles of duty and care.
Why?
The project provides new insights to discussions about how Lutheranism has shaped Danish society. It does so by investigating the religious roots to a structural genderedness of the Danish welfare model, thus adding a focus on gender. Thereby the project further sheds light on pertinent questions of gender equality, care work and the welfare state’s current shape and future sustainability.
How?
The project utilises the multi-disciplinarity of the study of religion in the writing of a contemporary intellectual history of religion, gender and welfare in the Danish state. Thereby it approaches the field from a historical perspective in combination with a sociological interest in the contemporary context and a religio-philosophical focus on the development and transformation of ideas.